What You’ll Learn In This Article:
- You’ll learn about what it means to be a true leader.
- You’ll learn five ways to spot a bad leader that you should avoid to become and follow.
- You’ll find some of Jesus’ thoughts about leadership. And also what other effective leaders say concerning true leadership.
- You’ll learn the 15 leadership qualities of a true leader, and what you should apply into your own life wether you are a leader or not.
Being an effective leader or being a leader at all is one heck of a challenge. Because a leader as John C Maxwell once said “a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.”
A leader has the responsibility to lead people in the right direction, therefore he/she faces numerous challenges along the way.
A leader is not only showing people the way, a leader has to develop certain leadership traits for the security of his/her followers.
As a society, we face the challenge of finding true leaders who fit into these leadership attributes among many others.People in politics, organizations, businesses, education, and churches are frustrated because they are continually being let down by their leaders.
Although leaders have a sense of where to lead people, many of them fail to develop good personality traits. Where they don’t become an inspiration, but rather manipulative towards people.
A good character of a leader is the foundation and the security of leadership. As Myles Munroe once said:
“Character in leadership is the most important balance for leadership. Without character, leaders have no safety. Leadership has no protection without character.”
Without good leadership qualities, leaders will face downfall and they will take their followers with them. Jesus explained it so well:
“ if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.”
What Is Leadership?
Before we jump into the qualities of a true leader, let us first come to the understanding of what TRUE leadership is. It is common for world leaders to define leadership as influencing others. That is true that influence is important in leadership.
But I ask, what kind of influence are we influencing people? Anybody can be an influence, and everybody is to some extent. Drug addicts can influence others to become like them. So is it true for alcoholics, criminals, deceivers, and abusers.
Although influence does play a big part in leadership, it is not the true heart of leadership. What is then true leadership?
Leadership is the ability to serve and invest in people and to transform them into a better self. A leader can transform a coward into a courageous one, a quitter into a go-getter, an undisciplined into a disciplined, fearful into fearless, a procrastinator into a hard-working one.
Leadership is all about people, it has nothing to do with title or power, nor has it to do with construction. If a leader is not people-oriented then he does not deserve to be followed, that person should rethink leadership again.
What we have learned in business schools about leadership is incomplete and oftentimes incorrect. Leadership is far from being “bossy,” by bossing people around and telling them what to do.
That is why many of us don’t like our bosses, they irritate us and weary us out. It’s not the workplace that we don’t like, we oftentimes like the job and the employees and we want to continue working there.
What turns us off is how our boss leads the people in the company. For they forget the fundamental principle of leadership. INSPIRATION!
It’s about leading by example, service, and empowerment – not by control.Influence plays a part in leadership when a leader has a sense of purpose and vision of where he/she is going and has the ability to inspire them to that desired destination. It’s when the leader’s vision becomes a part of the followers’ vision as well.
What Defines A Good Leader?
The greatest sign of a good leader is not concerned with how many are following. But even if only a few are following, but are transformed into a better self and we succeeded in creating leaders out of them.
Looking at the greatest leader in history, Jesus Christ. He only chose twelve to follow Him, He even became suspicious when He had a large following.
Because most of the time there are people who only follow to get something, rather than to be transformed. Great leaders are always looking to be effective, even if that would mean they would only transform a few people.
If we want to learn about successful leadership, we have to take a class from Jesus Himself– for He is the greatest role model of leadership.
Jesus understood that effective leadership is not selfish in withholding the “baton” from passing it on to the next generation. In a sense of not allowing others to take their position, but always wanting to be the ones leading.
Jesus in fact chose His twelve disciples for mentorship, in order for them to be His successors when He leaves the earth.
The fact that during His ministry on earth, He focused on creating leaders rather than letting them stay as followers, shows how great a leader He is.
What distinguishes great leaders from poor leaders is what Jesus taught His students in His leadership course:
Therefore if a person is not being of service to others then his leadership is doomed, because it’s all about service and effectiveness to others.True leaders are not looking to be leaders, they are looking to make a difference in the world and for other people.
Bad Leaders Are Known By Their Fruits, How To Spot Them
Great leadership is much in demand these days, for we cannot get enough disappointments from leaders who are not bearing good fruit. Bad leaders are at every corner, even at the places we don’t expect.
The problem is if we are blind in seeing the corruption and the bad fruit of our leader, we will end up in a pit along with them. Therefore we have to learn how to spot a bad leader before it becomes too late. SO HOW CAN WE SPOT THEM?
I will give you five traits of a bad leader, if you spot any of these five traits – you should consider finding someone else to follow, he or she is not qualified in leading you.
1. They Lack Vision
A leader without a clear vision is a BIG No-No. Vision is the biggest aspect of leadership. If your leader doesn’t know where he is leading you, then you along with your leader will waste your time in the wilderness chasing nothing.
This is what Jesus meant when He said “when a blind lead the blind, both will go to the pit.” Essentially, when a leader doesn’t have the bigger picture in mind of where he wants to lead you, at what destination. Then you will end up at a destination that would not please you.
Although having no vision, you will still end up somewhere, you will still get an outcome – although not the outcome you would want.Leadership without vision is like walking carelessly, blindfolded, in the middle of nowhere, and fall into a ditch. Any business, organization, ministry, or personal life that lacks vision, will end up in destruction.
If you are following a leader, ask him/her, “what is your vision,” “where are you taking me?” If they cannot give you an answer, then find someone else to follow.
2.Know It All Attitude
A leader should at all times be a student. A leader is responsible for his/her ignorance. Not to say that a leader should be a “rocket science” genius, but at least have knowledge and understanding of where he is leading you to.
When a leader stops learning, he stops being a leader, because then he stops growing. Growth is vital in leadership, when a leader grows, his or her followers grow as well. However if they stop growing, so will their followers.
Know it all attitude is a sign of immaturity in leadership, and should not be named among any leader. We are all tempted by this attitude, for when we learn something once, our inner ego tells us that we “know it all.” A real leader does not think that learning something once is enough.
But rather learning it twice, three times, four times, twenty times – or as long as it becomes a part of their daily activities.Leaders don’t learn in order to teach in a seminar to look smart. They learn for themselves and put the knowledge into practice, live it, and inspire people along the way.
3. Lack Of Integrity
Oh Gosh, this is a BIG one! Integrity is the most important trait along with vision in leadership. And this is why many leaders fail. Leaders who lack integrity are at every corner of society.
Many list integrity at the bottom of their priority list, when it should be at the top.Integrity is the foundation of leadership. Building up leadership without a foundation will tragically fall.
How many pastors have we exposed to their absurd behaviors, which have shocked us greatly because we put our trust in them? This is a big problem, not only does it affect the leaders, but most importantly it brings major damage to people who follow them.
4.Not Willing To Pass On The “Baton”
Another bad sign of a leader is to fail to choose his or her successors to produce a legacy for the succeeding generations. Leadership is as secure as how effectively leaders mentor their future successors, which will secure the legacy of the leader.
The spirit that arrogantly withholds the “baton” from transferring to the next generation is incredibly stupid.All great leaders know how important it is to produce and secure their legacy. By doing so is to choose someone who will take over their position, and do even greater works.
If leaders fail to transfer, then everything that they’ve built will die with them when they leave the earth. Therefore it is crucial to mentor people you choose as your successors after you, so everything you build will be preserved and expanded throughout generations to come.
Humble leaders are determined to deploy people, as to train them to be leaders themselves and do greater works than them and be better leaders than them. THAT’S STRONG LEADERSHIP.
5. “If People Serve Me, Then I Must Be Important”
“As long as people depend upon me, then I must be great, I must be favored by God.” What an ugly spirit! Yet a common one.
The goal of true leaders is to NOT have their followers dependent upon them. If they are, they will always stay as followers, never climb the ladder of success, and become leaders themselves.
Therefore instead of being served, leaders choose to serve the people. They choose to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the people.
Sacrifice their time, pleasures, sleep, and so forth in order to feed their flocks whatever they are carrying within them: their knowledge, strategies, understanding, encouragement, advice, and so forth. They empty themselves everything they learn and experience throughout their lifetime to their followers.
Top 15 EFFECTIVE Leadership Qualities Of A True Leader
1. Integrity
Yet again, integrity is the most important leadership quality of a true leader. To have integrity literally means to always be the same person wherever you are.
It means they are honest, trustworthy, reliable, and follow strong moral principles.Having integrity is always trying to do the right thing even when nobody is watching, and living according to what you teach in secret although no one will ever see you.
True leaders understand that integrity is crucial because it also protects their reputation, and they have great trust from people. As in organizations, leaders who have integrity, the employees have more positive workplace behaviors.
2. They Have Deep Love And Respect For Themselves And Others
True leaders lead with love. Leaders are problem solvers, solving problems in order to make a change in the world around them. Effective change does not come by hate and dishonesty, but with deep compassion.
Although they understand that love for others requires loving oneself first, loving and respecting others will become more of a hassle when they cannot love themselves.
3. They Are Purpose Driven, They Don´t Take Their Eyes Off The Mark
Another great quality of great leaders is their sharp focus on their purpose in life. Everything they do, and every decision they make in life is always in alignment with their life’s purpose.
They have a deep conviction about who they are, what is their assignment, and why they are important to the world.Their purpose is their drive, it is what creates and fuels their passion. You cannot fool a determined leader, nor can you ever steal his or her time.
For purpose is what sets the boundaries between the important and the urgent, between the pleasures and their goals, between the what and why, between poor decisions and right decisions.
4. They Are Visionaries
This is what separates a leader from a follower, THEY CREATE A PATH to a desired outcome in life. They envision a life that could be: what kind of people they want to create, or what kind of change they want for a country, what kind of company or organization they want to create and how they want to lead it, or what kind of personal life they want to create and improve.
Leadership without a purpose and vision is not leadership at all. Great leaders first of all understand that discovery of their life’s assignment is important in leadership.
When a leader discovers his or her purpose, they picture it in their imagination and plan according to that picture.Now, vision by itself we all have. We can all fantasize about what kind of life we wish to live.
Although true visionary leaders are completely different from the majority of people in society, they stand out from the crowd.
They don’t only picture what kind of life they want to live, THEY PURSUE IT! They plan, set goals, invest, and do whatever is necessary to achieve what they saw in their vision.
A vision that is not followed with pursuit is only a daydream or a wish that will by no means come to pass. But a vision that is followed with action steps and principles, will become a reality. THAT´S WHAT MAKES THEM TRUE VISIONARIES.
5. They Extend Their Hands To Serve Others
Jesus explains leadership exceedingly well:
Many misunderstand what leadership is all about. Many think that those in power are the ones who have all the advantages. Or those with lower status are obligated to serve the others in power.
Not at all! Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the greatest leader of all time, is showing us an example of true leadership.
As you can see, He completely ignores what many business schools teach: He does not tell people what they ought to do, and does nothing Himself.
His disciples were not sure about their assignment in that particular event, it didn’t accure to them that they had to wash each other’s feet before entering the house. They themselves were waiting for someone to do it for them.
Then Jesus comes to the scene, being their leader and King, took a bucket and filled it with water, and started to wash their feet.
The disciples became astonished and said to Jesus: “you should by no means wash our feet for you are the King, we are the ones to wash your feet.”
A true leader is the one who serves, and he doesn’t only command but he mentors his followers and shows them by example just like Jesus did in this passage.
If you are not leading by service then why lead at all? If our clear goals are not towards servant leadership, then we are not qualified to lead.
6. They Are Problem Solvers
Leaders love problem-solving, they love to be at service for others and help them with certain problems. They even look for opportunities to solve some problems, for they thrive on problem-solving.
Leaders are always up for challenges, for that is what makes them grow as better and more mature leaders, and problem-solving is one of the favorite challenges they face.Also problem-solving helps leaders to be more creative in their work and forces them to bring new solutions to problems.
7. They Are Transparent
Great leaders always have a priority, to be honest in all circumstances in life. Although they do mistakes, they make sure they are transparent about it, even though it could mean that people would hate them.Transparency is what makes people trust their leader, therefore it is crucial to at all times be honest.
8. They Are Innovative
True leaders are always innovative. Innovation is what excites true leaders. They love to expand their imagination and come up with new ideas and new approaches to deal with old challenges and problems.
Innovation is a high priority of all true leaders, when a leader stops creating then there is no need for them anymore.Leaders are strange people, while the majority of people fuss and curse at problems – it makes a leader excited.
Because then they have an opportunity to expand their creativity even further and come up with a solution.What makes leaders true leaders is their ability and eagerness to persistently look for different ways and strategies to deal with new and old problems and difficult situations.
True leaders never believe anything is impossible. Although a solution seems impossible for others, they believe in their instinct and their innovative ability.
Just think about it for a minute… we used to think that airplanes were impossible until somebody used their creative faculty and made it a reality. And so it was with electricity and technology and everything created.
9. They Have An Amazing Attitude
You rarely see a true leader with a bad attitude. This is essentially what makes leaders true leaders, IT’S THEIR ATTITUDE! It’s all about the attitude.
A true leader has the attitude of a lion. True leaders know who they are, and they won’t allow anybody to tell them who they are.
They are determined in pursuing their life’s assignment, without taking their eyes off the mark. They are always fixed on their purpose.
True leaders are courageous and confident, almost nothing makes them afraid, not even death. They even welcome death. One thing out of few is their fear of failing and finishing their assignment that they were destined to complete.
What makes a lion so interesting is although a lion is not the tallest, most powerful, intelligent animal compared to others, he is still the king of the jungle.
Why? ATTITUDE. An elephant can easily destroy a lion, but the lion has the elephant for dinner because of his attitude. The belief in himself that he is able to take that monster down.
This attitude is what distinguishes followers from leaders. While others see a humongous mountain, they run away. However, leaders face it, nothing becomes an obstacle for them unless they allow it.
Obstacles are their friend, it is their way to victory. People love to be around leaders with a positive attitude and with such confidence in themselves.
10.They Never Graduate From The School Of Life
We often think that by graduating from university and getting a master’s degree in so-and-so, we cease being students. That’s a mindset of a follower or a poor leader.
The attitude of a true leader is they refuse to believe they have graduated, they need to stay as students for the rest of their lives.
They love to expand their knowledge and learn new skills. Growth is their number one priority and essential for them, so they can inspire and help their followers grow as well.
True leaders hunger for more knowledge, they love to read books, go to seminars or invest in online courses to expand their knowledge and skills.
11. They Don´t Let “Talks” Deceive Them, They Do What Needs To Be Done
Ego is an interesting enemy, for its effectiveness is priceless. Everybody has fallen into its traps, but only a few have escaped. Those few are the great leaders we submit ourselves to.
Many say, “the more you talk about your dreams to yourself and others, it will come to pass.” That is a half-truth, there is a missing ingredient.
Success isn’t a magic formula, that you talk into its existence, then I assume that everybody around the globe would be successful today. But of course, it’s not that simple.
Ego makes us think that talking or visualizing our dreams equals progress. Visualization is important for us to direct our steps to our destination in life. And self-talk can be effective to increase our confidence in that dream.
However, progress is when we work towards those goals we put up for ourselves. Success is not talk,talk, talk, but a constant effort.
This sounds so simple, that it doesn’t need an explanation. It’s obvious, right? But may I ask, when you had an idea of something that seems remarkable to you, did you feel the pride when you told someone, feeling as if you are the greatest inventor?
You see, we LOVE to talk, but we HATE to work. We love to talk about going to the gym, and bragging about our knowledge of weightlifting and diets. But while we’re talking, we are gaining extra pounds.
We deceive ourselves by thinking that our ideas and talks are achievements, but that’s only a seed and not the fruit. Our ego makes us confuse the seed with the fruit.
True leaders on the other hand know the difference and know the strategy of their enemy. Their Ego. They understand that if they want to achieve their dreams, that requires hard work and not just an idea.
True leaders don’t brag about their successes, for them success is mainly the result of their commitment to their assignment in life. They also understand that when ego stands in their way, they put their dreams at risk.
12. They Move People By Their Inspiration
True leaders don’t try to be inspirational, they just are to other people. The main focus of a true leader is to become themself, find their purpose, and pursue their life’s vision.
True leaders are always developing themselves in self-development, learning new skills, expanding their knowledge, and mastering their personal and professional lives.
By doing so people around them are inspired by how they live and the benefits they get out of it, which moves them to go in that direction.
13. They Develop Good Communication Skills
For any leader whether a business owner, a parent, an author, or a politician it’s almost a must to develop a good communication skill for the benefit of their followers or team members.
Excellent leaders strive to develop themselves in effective communication. They learn to communicate with empathy, and communicate their vision, their core values, their ideas, and their mission.
14. They Are Good Strategists
For true leaders, it is important to have strategic thinking to make wise decisions that go in alignment with their vision and goals.
15. They Have Empathy
Empathetic leaders are true leaders. They have the ability to understand and relate to people’s problems and weaknesses for the purpose of inspiring and empowering others.
