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Qualities of a good leader

From Jay Jay Viray Career. Life. Success Manila Times

People ask the difference between a leader and a boss...The leader works in the open, and the boss in covert.  The leader, leads, and the boss drives.  Theodore Roosevelt

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.  Henry Kissinger

Most people equate being a good leader to being able to head a company, head an army, or stay in power.  When you're a leader it is understood that you are good at what you do, that life is easy and there is less to think about.  This, of course, is very rarely the case.  There is much, much more to think about and worry over once you assume responsibility over others, because you are in charge of whole range of responsibilities, one as important as the other or the next one.

More than this, a leader, a true leader, foregoes "me first" for the betterment of others.  They know that they are responsible for and represent other people, and they are in a position to do what they must for the betterment of them.

Leadership is more that the act of leading.  It is leading a group of people to a shared, mutual goal in the best possible means.  There should be at the very least, ethics involved.  Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf has said, "Leadership is a combination of strategy and character.  If you must be without one, be without the strategy."  There must be reasons behind decisions being made, and those decisions should be executed with integrity.  Without integrity in the action, the leader is nothing more than just a boss.

Respect and understanding must also come into play.  The leader must be able to respect their colleagues as well as their subordinates.  They must treat them like people, not as if they are their own personal slaves.  With this, comes understanding.  Because a leader has respect for their fellow man, it means they understand their trials and tribulations, the triumphs and the joys.  This goes for in as well as outside of the work place.  Understanding is essential, but this does not mean that a leader should get too personal either, unless the situation calls for it.  If the situation is about morals and ethnics that needs the leader's personal opinion, it becomes personal.

A leader, at any level, must have the drive.  There must be something that motivates them from where springs the inspiration that will move others forward.  This is both tricky and an art.  It is easy to fall into the trap of bossiness and be unreasonably demanding.  This must be done with the most sensitivity, so that the bossiness is seen as a motivator rather than ordering around.  Explain the reasons why the group is being pushed this hard and even let the group in on the vision for them to see what they are working for.

A leader must be able to see further tin the future as well as in front of them, to be able to judge wisely which course of action they must take to get to the collective goal as expeditiously as possible.  In the end, the team that works together, sees results together.  Whatever these results may be, it is all about what got them done and what it took to bring the entire team there.  This is what a leader does.  They do not take credit, they let their colleagues and subordinates feel the accomplishments.  They are quick to praise achievements and dispel and correct faults.  All this, with the thought that they are responsible for this person's well-being at all times.  But I suppose, the best view about leadership is a saying I've read from an unknown author:  "A real leader faces the music, even when he doesn't like the tune."