Nothing creates big results like quality leadership. Whether it is a sports franchise, a restaurant, or even a network marketing business, it's all put together and dependent on leaders. With this title comes responsibility, tough decisions, perseverance, composer, etc.
Most people don't have what it takes to become a leader, but I also believe that people have more leadership potential than they think. People can change and develop themselves to a point where they can begin to take on a larger role in the business world.
Some people are born to take on that leadership role in society, but others, when they want success bad enough, will work on themselves to bring out their inner potential to be something more than just another follower.
The Top 10 Leadership Traits
1. Creativity
Creativity is something that all leaders need although it may come in different forms. Whether it is artistic creativity, design creativity, innovative creativity, etc., a business owner or entrepreneur needs it to stay ahead of the competition and make big things happen.
If you can learn to think outside the box while others are still thinking in the box, you give yourself an advantage. Not everything is going to work perfectly as you run a business and manage an entire team of people looking to you for guidance, so you must be able to use creativity to solve problems and improvise to make things work. Read more about creativity as a leader here.
2. Confidence / Poise As a leader
As a leader, you're expected to be the one to make decisions that no one else wants to make. You have to even be able to deal with the consequences of choosing the lesser of two bad options. To be able to do this, you must have confidence in yourself and your team.
If you aren't confident in your decisions, how can anyone else be? Panicking is not an option as the one in charge of making decisions. Too many people count on you and you have to keep calm under pressure, while assuring people that you are doing what is best for the team by taking them in the direction you have chosen.
Not everything is going to go according to plan. Know that whatever happens is just another day at the office and that you can be 100% confident in your ability to handle anything that comes up. Keeping your confidence level high and never losing your poise is what helps you think logically, go through options and choose the best one.
Otherwise, you end up getting to emotionally involved, causing yourself to fear the worst or even panic, therefore increasing your chances of making a decision irrationally. One decision like this could destroy everything you and your team have worked for.
3. Vision / The Ability
To Inspire The top entrepreneurs in the world all started out with a vision for the future. As a leader, whether it is in network marketing, another type of internet marketing, company ownership, etc., you have to be able to create a vision that clearly shows what is ahead and what direction you will go in for the future.
Your vision needs to also be seen by your team as well. It needs to be big enough to contain all of their dreams as well so that they are not limited by your command of the business. Be able to inspire the team with your vision, so that it will create an atmosphere of excitement and massive action towards a common goal.
Give the people something to look forward too working towards to keep their motivation at its highest. This will keep productivity very high and will help you attract more great team members who also love your vision as a leader. If you think small, you will only get small results, but when you think big, anything is possible.
4. Honesty
Think of the example you set for your team. Would you rather follow a leader who was ethical and honest or dishonest and unethical? Your team's culture is a reflection of yourself as their leader that they look up to. You are held to a much higher standard than the others who follow you.
You must no lose the trust of the following you have developed. Be honest and your team will do the same. With leadership comes the responsibility to lead by example. As the leader, those who follow you and work under you will exhibit the same behavior as you because of their desire to be more like you and learn from you.
Being honest no only keeps the trust and a good culture for those following you, but attracts others to do the same as your influence grows. Maintaining long term success requires the creation of good will in the marketplace and developing a brand that people respect and love.
Behave as you would want your team to behave. Creating a culture of honesty is one of the best ways to progress in the right direction.
5. Sense Of Humor
One of the best ways to get your team to love you and want to work with/for you is by having a little fun with them. Having a sense of humor is a great way to keep people from getting stressed out or too serious.
If something goes wrong and the leader of the team makes light of it, it will help keep everyone from panicking or getting to worked up over one thing. People will want to keep in touch with you and feel comfortable talking to you if you crack some jokes now and then and don't stay so serious all the time.
One of the greatest assets to someone who wants to be a leader is a large following of people that love and respect them. If they see you as boring, a workaholic, too serious, or just someone who uses people to make them money and doesn't care to actually form a relationship with them, they won't work with you.
It's proven since the beginning of time that people like to laugh. So help your team look forward to seeing you regularly and keep them from getting so stressed out by talking to them and showing a little humor.
6. Positive Attitude
Create a positive environment for employees or team members to boost the morale. As someone with a leadership role, if you can find that perfect balance of productivity and playfulness, you will see big results from your team. They'll be happier, more upbeat, and thus more devoted to their work.
As a leader, you basically have two choices: you can be the good guy or the bad guy. The bad guy leader gets production out of fear and strictness with a no nonsense approach. This will make people hate working for you or with you and form a negative vibe which will eventually lead to consequences for you.
Or you can be the good guy. The good guy leader would have a positive morale for the team by encouraging them, helping them, being friendly to them, etc. so that people will work with you because they want to, not because they have to.
When this vibe is established you will get more energy and production out of your team. When you stay positive and have a positive influence on peoples' lives, they'll always give you their best work.
7. Intuition
As a leader of any business, you will always have to make tough decisions. There are times when unexpected bumps in the road will hit you and the team will look to you for guidance. This is when you have to just rely on your experience and trust your gut to make the right decisions.
When a lot of people depend on you, you must gain their trust by first trusting yourself. At the end of the day, you can't lose your cool. You have to realize that no matter what happens, it is just another day at the office and decisions will always have to be made.
If you keep your emotions out of it, you can face any problem rationally and make an intelligent decision that you know will put your team in the best position. You can plan for everything that happens, so your gut feeling is going to be your best bet sometimes, as well as some advice from your mentors.
Trust your experience, trust your gut and trust your mentors to help yourself make the right decisions and your team will trust you as well.
8. Commitment
If you want your team to help you make your vision for the business a reality, you need to lead by example. Nothing inspires your team more than getting down in the trenches yourself and showing them that you're working just as hard as they are.
The tendency in business is that the team is a reflection of the leader. If you work hard and lead by example, they will give you that same effort. This will earn your team's respect and show them that to get to your level someday, they must work hard and do as you do.
Not only do you want to commit to working as hard as you want your team members too, you must also keep promises and be fair. Ultimately you want your team to be committed to your vision right? So, show them that you're committed to them individually by keeping promises and being fair to them.
Always keep your word to them no matter what. If you say you'll do something, you have to do it. Earning your team's respect is the top priority as a leader because if you can do this, you will always get their best efforts.
9. Communication
Have you ever explained something to somebody that made perfect sense in your head, but they just looked at you like you were crazy? Just because you know what your team needs to do and how to do it, doesn't mean they do. You have to be able to simplify things and communicate it to them, so that they can actually understand and pull it off. Albert Einstein once said, “If you can't explain it simply, you understand it well enough.” This is something you must learn to do as a leader.
You must be able to help your team perform the tasks they must perform to be more successful. If you can't explain the vision for the team, you won't all be working towards the same goals. Work on giving team members different forms of training to help them understand it their way.
Especially in network marketing or any other online businesses, having a video walking team members through a step by step process of what they need to do will help a lot. You may even give them a simple quiz at the end of a cheat sheet they can use as they follow along. Then, ask them one on one of they have any questions.
10. Passion
Leaders need to eat, sleep and breathe their business. If you aren't passionate about the business you're running, why are you running it? You also want to recruit team members that are also passionate about the goals you have set and the vision of where the business is going, otherwise they won't work their hardest or stick with it.
Make sure whatever business you're running interests you, resonates with you and makes you want to keep learning more about it. If you truly love working on this business, you won't see it as a choir to make you money, but a business that pays you to do what you love doing anyway. You will be happier and more willing to go the extra mile for success by creating this passion.
Conclusion
One great way to turn yourself into a great leader is to study and model after some of the best. What leaders do you look up to? What kind of leader would you want to follow? Now, become that leader and you will move mountains in your industry, while creating a massive following of people that respect you and want to work under your leadership.