Idea 19: The seven qualities of leadership

A leader not only has knowledge and skills, he or she also has the right qualities to lead a group to achieve its ends willingly.

Personality and character cannot be left out of leadership. There are certain generic leadership traits. Seven of the most important ones are:

  1. Enthusiasm – try naming a leader without it!
  2. Integrity – meaning both personal wholeness and sticking to values outside yourself, primarily goodness and truth. Integrity makes people trust a leader.
  3. Toughness – being demanding, with high standards, resilient, tenacious and with the aim of being respected (not necessarily popular).
  4. Fairness – impartial, rewarding/penalizing performance without ‘favourites’, treating individuals differently ...

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