There are two types of leaders in this World, successful leaders, and leaders who have become comfortable in their position. Of the two I am sure that you would prefer to be a successful leader as opposed to someone who worked hard to get the position but then took their foot off the gas. If you are looking for strong leaders to emulate then take a look at the career of someone such as Russ Lea. Russ has, throughout his career, been a consistently strong and successful leader, he has been able to apply his strong leadership skills to a number of industries such as education and healthcare as well as positions in the private sector. His multitude of abilities from contact negotiations, forecasting, relationship building and strategy coupled with his raw leadership talent have made him the success he is and these are the types of footsteps that you should be following in if you want success. If you wish to be like Russ then here are the skills that you are going to need.
Dedication
An absolutely core part of being a strong leader is in your dedication, you need to be the most committed person in your team, the one who is prepared to go the extra mile, work the extra hours, tear down walls if you have to in order to achieve success. Your team will look to you to lead and if they see someone who is so bent on success that they are prepared to do whatever it takes then you will inspire them to be the same. Having a time that is as driven as you will only go on to do great things.
Communication
As a leader you must have outstanding communication skills both with conveying your message and in listening to others. Your team will need crystal clear instructions for their tasks and they will be relying on you to give it to them, hiding away in an office and relaying everything through email and text message is not the answer, you need to be speaking with your team, asking them what you want and listening to their questions and doubts. Communication also plays a huge role in dealing with clients and customers and in order to be seen as a dominant leader, you need to have impeccable communication skills.
Risk Taking
As a leader you will be responsible for making money decisions, some tough ones and you need to prepared to be able to do so with a strategic approach. Sometimes you need to take risks in order to get ahead, these should be calculated risks and not reckless decisions but you need to be able to stand by such risky decisions. Whilst the buck does stop with you as the leader, it is important that you speak to and listen to the views of those around you, every decision you take should be fully though out by you and different people will often see different advantages and disadvantages in your choices, ask and listen before taking a decision or a risk.
