The Truth Behind a Great Leader: What it Really Takes to Lead Effectively

when-someone-says-shes-a-great-leader

When someone says: “She’s a great leader.”

Here’s what they really mean:

– “She has empathy towards customers and stakeholders to understand their critical pain points in detail.”

– “She anticipates challenges and roadblocks to drive change. She knows that if this transformation was easy, it would have already been completed.”

– “She defines the right charter for the team, it has straight line alignment to the company’s strategy.”

– “She knows her team members’ strengths and develops a team structure that builds on those strengths.”

– “She knows success comes from working on strategy *and* execution. Both are equally important, and those have to be strongly interconnected.”

– “She knows the important metrics for her organization like the back of her hand.”

– “She gets multiple stakeholders to buy into the transformation.”

– “She runs meetings and work sessions that make forward progress.”

– “She sets expectations and exceeds them”

– “She has impatience with action and patience with results.”

– “She shows when to get help and when to delegate”

– “She leads her team decisively even if there might not be enough data or a clear path.”

– “She reminds everyone of the company’s strategic objectives when people around her are in tactical confusion mode.”

– “She learns from her failures and others’ failures to figure out the landmines to avoid.”

– “She maintains a can-do mindset and attitude despite the challenges or rewards the day brings her.

You see, leadership isn’t a thing.

It’s a collection of micro and macro actions done exceptionally well together.