What does it take to be a Good Business Leader?
June 25, 2012 in Uncategorized
By Anton Van Heerden, Managing Director, Softline VIP
The debate around whether you are born to be a good leader or whether you can learn to be one has been raging since the dawn of time. There is however no denying the fact that the success of a business is very much linked to the success of its leaders. A good leader brings clarity and peace of mind to others by creating a clear vision for a business and leading people towards a common goal.
There are very specific traits that a person should possess to be a good leader. You must have the appetite for continuous self-improvement and a natural inquisitiveness or thirst for learning that will propel the team into a ‘forward-thinking’ and pro-active mind set. In the same vein, you must also be able to learn from your mistakes.
Having the ability to really listen to people is key for any business leader, as is the ability to connect with people on their level. It is however crucial to be self-confident but without being arrogant. Another particularly important trait is to be able to motivate people in a positive way. Act in a way that commands respect from others and then respect others as you would like them to respect you. Be consistent in your actions as it will go a long way in the prevention of confusion, and most of all: Be trustworthy.
South Africa finds itself in a rather unique situation where social pressure and political agenda often add many obstacles that business needs to overcome in order to tap into the country’s leadership potential. You literally have to become race agnostic as it continues to be a prevalent contentious issue in the South African landscape. Access to quality education and training, not only formal training, is another obstacle, and the creation of an effective mentoring and coaching program within any organisation is also something that needs to be carefully considered.
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Arda said on July 29, 2012
My view is Leader and manager are comlnemept of each other .To become a manager there should be a quality of leadership because without leading the things no one can become manager and in the same way to become a leader there is need of managment.eg. If i want to lead myself ,then i need to manage myself first. Without management no one can Lead .in other words managment is the foundation of leadership.e.g.Leading company always have good management.Answer of your above defined problem: Here project manager manage the project and give assignment to his/her project leader.Project leader again manage the things and assign it to their team members so we can say project leader is indirectly a manager as well as leader also .so we can not blame that leader reports to manager ,indirectly manager reports to manager.
Noha said on August 1, 2012
I’d like to read the post, but when I click the link it takes me to a Microsoft Outlook security site that asks for a uesanrme and password; I’d sign up if it provided the chance but I don’t see how to do it. What should I do?
sagegroup said on August 1, 2012
Hi Noha,
You can view the article here: http://blog.softline.co.za/2012/06/25/what-does-it-take-to-be-a-good-business-leader/
Sergio said on September 7, 2012
You mean I don’t have to pay for expert aivdce like this anymore?!
Ziarre said on September 4, 2012
Your’s is the ietnlligent approach to this issue.
Edit said on September 7, 2012
I’m imprsesed. You’ve really raised the bar with that.