What Makes a Leader Great?

All of the great leaders I have ever met or admired from afar have, are, or exhibit the following on a daily basis:

• An open and effective communicator
• Honest
• Integrity
• The respect of others
• Effective management skills

While all of these are necessary for success, what is it about a leader that makes them not good – but great? In their book, The Leadership Challenge, Kouzes & Posner attribute great leadership not to great personality, but simply and ONLY to the behavior of the individual.

Thinking once again about the great leaders that I have come across, they have also exhibited the following behaviors:

1. Having and sharing their unbridled passion for the organization they serve. Having a passion for the work you do every day is vital, not only to the success of the organization, but to yours and that of your team as well. Who wants to give their best for something they could care less about?
2. Articulating a clear vision for success. In a recent post, Intuit’s President and CEO, Brad Smith noted that thinking out loud, and openly sharing your vision for success with the entire organization and seeking feedback opens the door to dissenting opinions, which in turn can lead to fresh, new ideas and innovation. This also encourages others to do their best, and to succeed.
3. Recognizing and celebrating the success of others. Rather than taking the credit themselves, great leaders openly acknowledge and celebrate the success of those who make things happen. There is no better example of what not to do than to compare the end of the NFL championship game interviews of the Bronco’s Payton Manning and the Seahawks’ Richard Sherman. One focused on the team effort, while the other made a spectacle of himself by touting his "greatness."
4. Finally, while there are others I could mention, I’ll conclude this post with my favorite behavior of great leaders: Words are ALWAYS followed by action to support them. After all, if you can’t walk the talk, who will follow?

The answer? No one.

Before founding her own consulting firm, Dawn Gannon served as a respected management professional in the military, higher education, and healthcare fields for 25 years. As a Lean/Six Sigma Green Belt, Dawn’s commitment and personal mission to improve the lives of others through service to the community focuses on providing administrative and volunteer management, consumer education, public outreach, event planning, relationship-building efforts, and strategic planning. She is the author of the Management in Motion blog, and has written a number of articles for RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association on the topic of childfree living.