Who Has Leadership Potential?

Although there are thousands of books on becoming a leader, the way to success as a leader is actually pretty simple.  Successful leaders build teams that work together to accomplish company goals.

Successful leadership requires ambition, a willingness to learn, and a commitment to company goals.  But these qualities aren’t enough.  Successful leaders motivate others, communicate a vision, demonstrate fairness, show concern for coworkers, and make people feel they have a voice in the decisions that get made.

Problems occur when potential leaders believe they are doing these things, but their subordinates don’t think they are.  Probably every boss in America thinks he or she is a good communicator, but we all know that’s not true.  Almost everyone has worked for someone who was clueless about his or her management style.

So in addition to having ambition and the other qualities, successful leaders need to understand how they are coming across to others.  They need to be aware of blind spots in their management style and take steps to keep them under control.  Psychologists tell us that we can’t change our personalities, but most of us can change our behavior.  That’s especially true when trying to motivate the team that will determine if we succeed in our leadership position.