From 0 to $10M: The 11 Leadership Qualities You Must Have

Wondering whether you have what it takes to be a leader or what the qualities are that separate the most effective leaders from the least effective. Well, that's exactly what I'm going to be talking about in this video. And by the end of it, you'll know which qualities make you a better leader, why they're important, and how to develop them, which should also help you accelerate your career. Oh, by the way, if you're new to this channel, I'm Eric Partaker. I'm a CEO coach to 30 of the world's leading CEOs, from multibillion dollar companies to rapidly growing startups and scale ups. And I've also been recognized as a CEO of the Year. Now, the qualities you need to become a great leader being a mix of cognitive abilities, people skills and character traits. Next, we're going to dive into each quality and give you practical ways to strengthen them one by one.

First up are the three cognitive abilities, which includes the ability to be what we call visionary, to think critically and to act decisively. So let's kick off with what it means to be visionary. Now, Marcus Buckingham is one of my favorite authors and he once said great leaders rally people to a better future. Or to put it another way, a great leader has the ability to paint a picture of what's ahead and get everyone excited about achieving it. Now this is something I have a lot of experience with and when I remember back to being part of the early team at Skype, during those first few years, our tagline was the whole world can talk for free. We basically envisioned a future where free calls over the Internet broke down barriers, closed distances and enabled the entire world to easily connect and speak with each other at any time and for free. And we were the David and the big telecommunication companies at the time with a Goliath. But our vision empowered us to rise up, stand our ground, take action and eventually win. So you see, being visionary is about having the ability to see the the big picture and also plan for the future. And as you can imagine, this trait is crucial for leadership as it provides direction and purpose and ensures all the efforts are aligned towards a common goal. So how do you strengthen your visionary leadership? Well first up, you can define your inspiring why. So remember back to my Skype example, our vision statement at the time was the whole world can talk for free. It wasn't become number one in the world at providing free calls over the Internet or something like that. So ideally your why should state the positive impact you will have on the world of your customers, not the Market position or financial gain that you're trying to achieve. The former is an inspiring vision for the future, the latter, not so much. The next thing you can do to develop your visionary ability is to set clear goals with your vision in mind. You next want to break it down into the visionary goals that will help you get there. So if your vision, for example, is five years into the future, then what needs to happen by the end of each year to help you arrive? And then that roadmap is going to guide and align your team. And of course, you'll want to regularly review it and adjust it because things rarely go to plan and you still need to be able to respond to the changes and stay on track. The next thing you can do is stay informed. You've probably heard the phrase, the only constant is change. Well, it's very true, especially with all the technological advancements in this day and age. For example, you wouldn't want to set a five year vision and then lock yourself in a room for five years and, you know, never come out. Visionary leaders continuously educate themselves about change in industry trends, you know, market shifts, and they're the first to consider taking advantage of new tech. Last but not least, if you're leading in a visionary way, it's pointless if nobody understands your vision and isn't reminded about it often. So the key here is to communicate your vision. Make sure you remind everybody, everyone of where you're going, how you're going to get there, and the role that they play in the game. You can kind of think of a visionary leader as a lighthouse keeper. And just as a lighthouse guides ships safely to shore by illuminating the way forward, a visionary leader guides their team and organization by shining a light on the future path to success. The light from the lighthouse is steady and reliable, much like the vision that a leader provides. Consistent and clear, which helps the team navigate any uncertain times. Next up is the ability to think critically, or in other words, critical thinking. Now, critical thinking is essential to making sense of what's happening in the world around us. You can think of critical thinking like a chess game. Just as a skilled chess player anticipates multiple moves ahead and considers various strategies, a critical thinker has to evaluate different options, anticipate outcomes, and strategically plan the best courses of action. Aristotle had this really great quote. It's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. And one of the key abilities critical thinkers share is that they can consider different ideas and perspectives objectively without immediately accepting or rejecting them as you can imagine this has many leadership benefits. You're able to hear all the voices on the team without judgment or criticism. And of course, that's going to make your team feel a lot more valued as a result and help you to make better decisions. You're also able to consider all sides of a problem and all the potential causes or drivers of the problem so that you're more likely to arrive at the right solution. And critical thinkers are also better innovators since they're able to shed any preconceived notions about what works or what's possible or what's not possible, and often think through completely random new ideas and still arrive at what's best. So how do you develop this critical thinking muscle? Well, number one, ask questions, cultivate curiosity by questioning assumptions, exploring different points of view, seek deeper understanding of things. The five whys technique, by the way, is a fantastic way to drill down to the root cause of a problem and can help you in this regard. Another way is to focus on gathering and analyzing information. So collect relevant data evidence before making decisions or proposing solutions. You can use tools like a SWOT analysis, you know, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, to evaluate situations a little bit more comprehensively. But also remember the 8020 rule. Often it's 20% of the causes that will create 80% of the effects and reflect and evaluate. So take time to reflect on decisions and outcomes, to learn from experiences, and, you know, improve future performance. You know, for example, after completing a project, one of my favorite things to do is, you know, conduct a retro, you know, retrospective meeting to discuss what went well, what could have been improved, and last but not least, encourage diverse perspectives. So you want to foster a culture where team members feel comfortable, you know, sharing different points of views and ideas. Now, it's one thing to be able to think critically about a situation and gather and evaluate the right information, but then you still need to make a decision at the end of the day. And that's where the final key, cognitive ability or leadership quality comes in, the ability to act decisively. Being decisive means the ability to make decisions promptly and effectively. Decisive leaders are confident in their choices and are able to act quickly, even in uncertain or high pressure situations. There's actually a really good study. It was done on over 2,600 leaders from a book called the CEO Next Door. And decisive leaders in this study were 12 times more likely to be successful than their peers, 12 times more. Now, one thing to clarify here is that being decisive is not about being right. Often leaders need to make a decision with limited or uncertainty certain information in order to create clarity for their team and keep them moving. For example, consider the quote from Theodore Roosevelt, in any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The next best thing you can do is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing decisive. Leaders keep moving forward, is the point. Doubling down on right decisions and course correcting quickly on wrong ones. But they don't sit on the fence humming and hawing about what to do next or wasting the time and valuable resources of their team. So with that in mind, how do you become more decisive? Well, here's a few actionable ways to do that as well. Number one is gather relevant information quickly. Focus on obtaining the most pertinent information to make an informed decision without getting bogged down in unnecessary details. Also trust your instincts, right? So while data and analysis are important, also trust your experience and intuition. Another thing that helps is seeking input. But here you want to avoid over consulting. So get input from some key stakeholders, but avoid excessive discussions, you know, that are going to delay decisions. Okay, so we've just covered three cognitive abilities necessary to become a great leader. You must be visionary. You have to think critically and act decisively. Now, we're going to talk about three key people or interpersonal skills that great leaders share and how you can develop or strengthen each of these skills.

Okay, so the first people skill that we're going to talk about is being inspirational. Now, there's no better way to influence action than to inspire. Inspirational leaders have the ability to motivate and uplift others. And this in turn energizes the team with passion and enthusiasm, and it creates a positive and motivating work environment. And an inspired team is much more likely to give their best. So how can we inspire as leaders? Well, one of the most powerful ways is to simply lead by example. As Gandhi famously said, be the change that you wish to see in the world. And this means demonstrating the behaviors, attitudes, and work ethic that you wish to see in your team. It's equally important to regularly share your passion. So make sure your team hears and understands your enthusiasm and passion for the work and the vision of the organization. Another way to be more inspirational as a leader is to recognize and celebrate achievements. When you acknowledge individual and team accomplishments, it's going to boost morale and motivation. Even a simple, hey, you did a great job on this, or thank you for the incredible effort you put into this. Something like that can really inspire someone to continue delivering their best. Next up, you can provide support and encouragement. If you're there for your team members, if you're offering guidance, if you're encouraging them when needed, that is going to be inspiring for them. And we'll wrap up the inspirational skill with this great quote from John Quincy Adams. If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. I know I have a lot of early stage entrepreneurs, founders and CEOs in my audience and if you're one of them, you need to start consciously crafting your leadership style. And I've built a free crash course to help you do exactly that. In my ultimate leadership Guide, you'll learn the five big mistakes every new leader makes and how to avoid them and how to make high stakes decisions with confidence and win back 10 hours a week. You can gain access for free in the description below. Okay, so the next people skill that we're going to talk about is being empathetic. Empathetic leadership means having the ability to understand the needs of others, be aware of their feelings and thoughts, and understand and appreciate how it must feel for them. An empathetic leader puts themselves in their team members shoes, right? They they show genuine care and concern for their well being and that emotional connection fost more supportive and inclusive work environment. And as you can imagine, team members are going to feel more valued and understood. There's a great study by the center for Creative Leadership which found that leaders with high emotional intelligence, which includes empathy, are more effective and successful. In fact, the study showed that 75% of employees consider an empathetic boss to be more effective and 65% of employees would work harder for an empathetic leader. But unfortunately there's a gap between the theory and the practice. According to Harvard Business review, while 70% of senior leaders acknowledge the importance of empathy, only 47% believe their companies are effectively practicing it. So there's a gap that exists between leaders perceptions of their empathy and employees experiences. So how can we close the gap and lead more empathetically? Well here's a few actionable tips once again to help. Number one, show genuine interest. So take time to get to know your team members personally, including their interests, strengths and challenges. You know, not just on the work front but but also outside of work. Remember, they're a whole person. Number two, be accessible and approachable. You want to make sure your team knows that they can come to you with concerns or problems without any fear of judgment. So one of the things you can do is consider an office hour session in your calendar where people can show up physically or virtually to discuss anything on their mind. And the most important thing you can do to lead more empathetically is to engage in active listening. Now, Stephen Covey said it best in his book the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Habit number five in that book is seek first to understand, then to be understood, which is about being empathetic at its essence. And as a leader, this is all about paying close attention to what team members are saying without interrupting and showing that you value their input. And here it's important to confirm that you truly understand by reflecting back what you've just heard. But here's the secret. You don't just reflect the words you hear, but also how you think the person feels. So for example, if a team member frustratingly shares the reasons for something not going to plan, you can not only reflect back the reasons, but also, and I can imagine how frustrating that must feel for, for you to confirm that you both understand the person rationally and emotionally. So you want to think of empathy as sort of like the oil in the engine. And just as oil reduces friction right between the moving parts of an engine, empathy reduces friction in the workplace by smoothing interactions and, you know, fostering a more cooperative environment. And without sufficient oil, an engine would overheat and fail. And similarly, a workplace lacking empathy can become strained and dysfunctional. As Maya Angelou once said, people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Okay, the last people skill to develop is becoming a strong communicator. Strong communication skills are essential for great leadership. And if you think about a strong communicator, you know they can convey information clearly, concisely, effectively, and they're skilled both in verbal and non verbal communication, which ensures that their message is understood as intended. They actively listen, they provide clear feedback, and they adapt their communication style to suit their audience. And when communication is strong, it enhances team collaboration, reduces errors, increases efficiency. But when it's poor, it leads to misunderstandings, conflicts, reduced productivity, and at a very heavy cost. In fact, According to the 2022 State of Business Communication report, business leaders estimate poor communication in the workplace accounts for a loss of seven and a half hours per employee, employee per week. And that lost time cost companies more than 18% of the total salaries paid. And that's a loss and a cost incurred year after year. Now, there's many, many, many ways to improve your communication. I'd have to do a whole new video to cover it all, but here are my top Tips number one model after great communicators. Steve Jobs, for example, was known for his exceptional communication skills. His ability to articulate his vision and inspire both his team and the public was a key factor factor in Apple's success. And there's actually a really great book I use called the Presentation Skills of Steve Jobs that really helped me improve my communication skills in front of an audience. Number two, active listening definitely helps as well. In fact, I think most leaders need to talk less and listen more to improve their communication. And I'm not going to go into detail about active listening again, but it's essentially what we discussed in the previous section. Next up, illustrate through stories. People love stories. You know, telling a compelling story can vividly illustrate your vision, goals, objectives. The book Stories that Stick by Kendra hall is a great resource here. Use a structure. As simple as this sounds, it's often overlooked. But simply taking the time to think through an important point that you want to communicate and writing down the main point together with the supporting point, as well as thinking through all the common questions and answers in advance, that's going to greatly improve how well your message is received. And lastly, to improve your communication, engage in regular communication. I know that might sound sound silly, but you got to make sure you have regular one to one set up with your team members. And whenever you end a meeting, ask is there anything here that needs to be communicated to someone else? And be super clear about what needs to be communicated by whom and to whom and by what date. So in short, you could think of strong communication as the glue that holds a group of people together. Effective communication ensures that all team members are connected and aligned and understand what's happening and why. All of which helps create a more cohesive and functional organization. Okay, so up to this point, we've covered the three cognitive abilities you need as a great leader. You must be visionary, think critically, and act decisively. And we've just covered the three people skills great leaders share. They are inspirational, empathetic, and strong communicators. And now we're going to talk about the five character traits that you'll find in great leaders and how you can develop or strengthen each of these traits.

Okay, so the first character trait that we're going to talk about is reliable. Being reliable. Earlier when we were talking about the importance of being decisive, I mentioned a study of 2,600 leaders from the book the CEO Next Door. Well, that same study found that leaders who were very reliable were 15 times more likely to succeed in their careers. So take that in For a moment, just developing this character trait alone could 15x your odds of success. So what do we mean by being reliable? Well, reliable leaders are the benchmark for personal consistency, and that means they do what they say they're going to do, whether that's following up on a particular point from a meeting, hitting the deadlines they set for themselves, or just delivering results on time. And because they practice radical accountability with themselves, nobody needs to chase them and everyone can count on them to deliver consistently. Now, as you can imagine, someone like this will quickly build trust with others. And because they set a standard for accountability, it encourages other team members to also trust, be responsible and dependable. And this sort of consistency and dependability enhances a leader's reputation, making them more respected and influential, which naturally helps them lead even better. Now, if all of this describes you, you're in great shape. And if it doesn't and you don't feel very reliable today, don't worry. Here are a handful of simple ways you can build your reliability muscle and 15x your odds of success as a result. Number one, I call this becoming a pro backsell. So really what this is all about is breaking down and scheduling the inputs that lead to the output. So for example, if you have an upcoming board meeting, you'll need to complete the following inputs beforehand. You'll need to create an agenda, delegate, prep work, finalize and send the board pack. So you want to schedule the work on the inputs as appointments in your calendar and issue meeting invites to anyone that should join those appointments. So by quickly back solving and scheduling the inputs that lead to the outputs, you'll stay on top of your game and helpless those around you to do the same. The second thing you can do is use a daily planner or app. You want to create a capture system that essentially lets nothing slip through the cracks. Now whether you prefer a physical notebook or a planner or your favorite app, that's totally up to you. But you just want to have a single place to capture commitments as they appear throughout the day. Next actions from a meeting, thoughts about what you need to do next, requests from colleagues. Everything goes into the planner or the app. And last but not least, you want to schedule time at the end of your day to transfer the commitments that you capture captured to your calendar as appointments or to your master task list or safekeeping. Every week I share ultra practical evidence based tips to reach your full potential and work in life. In my newsletter and on LinkedIn. These are the same frameworks and principles I teach to my 1 to 1 $50,000 a year coaching clients. With over a quarter of a million people receiving my newsletter and over three quarters of a million people following on LinkedIn, I see the impact of my work work every day. So check out the links in the description and sign up today. Now the next thing you can do to become more reliable is to do what I call become an 8020 machine. So earlier we talked about the power of the 8020 rule to help your ability to think critically. Well it can also help you become more reliable by reducing any perfectionist tendencies. Now perfectionism is a massive reliability killer as you wait for perfect information or just the right amount of time to get things things just right. All of this slows you down to the point of missing deadlines or not following up on time. So for example, if five hours would lead to a perfect presentation, the question to ask is can you get an 80% result in one hour? So you want to focus on the 20% of time and effort that will yield 80% of the results. Challenge yourself to find just one thing that you can 8020 like a verb 8020 daily and you'll kill your perfectionism while strengthening strengthening your reliability. And then last but not least, you can measure and grow your reliability rating. So what we measure we improve. And so with this tactic, you simply want to self rate your reliability daily by asking the question at the end of the day on a scale of 1 to 10, to what degree was I reliable today? To what degree did you follow through on all the things you said you would? To what degree did you role model consistency for others? And by noting what drives your score and recording it daily, you'll slowly but surely grow your reliability rating over time. Now if you want to see reliability in action, just take a look at Tim Cook. When Tim Cook took over as CEO of Apple, he was known for his operational excellence and reliability. Everyone knew that it could count on Tim, that he would deliver on his promises and perform consistently. All of which ensured Apple continued to thrive even after Steve Jobs passed away. So next up we have the character trait of being adaptable. Being adaptable means having the flexibility to adjust to new conditions, challenges and opportunities. Now as you can imagine, this is incredibly important in today's fast paced and ever changing world and is essential to make sure a team and an organization remains competitive and relevant. Here are some actionable ways you can become more adaptable. First, you can embrace continuous learning. So stay curious and committed to learning new skills and knowledge. You can attend workshops, read industry related books, follow thought leaders in your field to Stay up to next. You want to cultivate a growth mindset, so view challenges and failures as opportunities for growth and improvement. And you can encourage your team to adopt this mindset as well by sharing stories of how setbacks maybe led to, you know, certain lessons or successes for you. And another one that I like is to practice scenario planning. And one of my favorite exercises to do this is to ask the team to conduct what I call pre mortem on their most important goal goals. So in a pre mortem, the team fast forwards to a point in time where they imagine they fail to achieve their goal. And then you want to ask the team to brainstorm and discuss the most likely causes of failure. And then they develop plans to respond to or mitigate the identified risk so they're less likely to be caught in the back foot and so that the unexpected is basically less likely to happen. The legend of the Phoenix is one of my favorite ways to think about adaptability. In Greek mythology, the Phoenix is a mythical bird that after, after living for centuries, burns itself to ashes and is then reborn from those ashes, renewed and rejuvenated. And this illustrates the power of adaptability and transformation. Alright, now let's move on to resilient, our next character trait. The American boxer Mike Tyson once famously said, everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. And in my experience, things rarely go exactly as planned. So being resilient means having the capacity to recover quickly from danger, difficulties and setbacks. Resilient leaders maintain their composure and effectiveness under pressure, bouncing back from hardship without losing sight of their goals. And I'm sure you can see how this supports great leadership. Resilient leaders provide stability and assurance to their teams, especially during challenging times, helping to maintain morale and productivity. And the way they model persistence and determination encourages their teams to stay committed to their goals goals despite the obstacles. And here are a few practical ways you can strengthen your resilience. First up is looking after yourself. And I know this might sound like common sense, but unfortunately common sense isn't always common practice. A strong mind and body significantly increases your capacity for all the things that don't go to plan. So regular exercise, healthy eating and mindfulness practices can really help in this regard. Next is to reframe your view of stress. You know, nobody walks into a gym and says, hey, I'd like to get into the best shape of my life. Can you please point out me in the direction of the most comfortable weights? We realize stress builds strength with our bodies, and it's the same with building your resilience upstairs mentally. So all the setbacks, frustrations and unexpected events are like weights in the resilience gym. So when something doesn't go to plan, dig in, lift those weights and get stronger as a result. As the Japanese proverb states, fall down seven times, stand up eight. Last but not least, another thing that you can do to help build resilience is build a strong support network. So when experiencing stressful events, it's important to share those experiences and listen to those we trust. Just having one good friend or colleague that you can lean on can be the difference between giving up versus pressing on. J.K. rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, provides a fantastic example of resilience in action. Her first Harry Potter book was rejected by 12 different publishers before it was finally accepted and over 500 million Harry Potter books have been sold since. And J.K. rowling now has an estimated net worth of about $1 billion. So it's a good thing she didn't give up after the 12th rejection. Alright, next up we have humility, our next character trait. Now, humility and leadership means recognizing and acknowledging your own limitations, while also recognizing and acknowledging the contributions of others. So humble leaders are open to feedback, admit their mistakes, and are willing to share credit for successes. And leaning into humility has so many benefits. Humble leaders earn more trust and respect from their teams, and since they often seek feedback and actively try to learn from others, humble leaders significantly grow their own leadership capabilities. Humility even improves decision making because by considering diverse perspectives and admitting when you don't have all the answers, humble leaders make more more informed and balanced decisions. And humble leaders prioritize the needs of the team and the organization over their ego. As author C.S. lewis once said, humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. So here are some actionable ways to develop your humility. The first thing you can do is admit your mistakes. So own up to your mistakes and view them as opportunities for growth. You know when you make an error, acknowledge it publicly and discuss what you've learned from the experience. Number two Share, credit, recognize and celebrate the contributions of your team members. For example, during meetings or in communications, highlight specific examples of team members successes. Seek feedback. Regularly ask for feedback from your teams, peers and superiors to understand your strengths and areas for improvement and remain open to learning. So embrace a mindset of continuous improvement and be willing to learn from anyone, regardless of their position. Former US President Abraham Lincoln was often cited as a humble leader, and during the American Civil War, Lincoln would often visit the soldiers, hospitals. Listen to their concerns and personally thank them for their service. And that willingness to connect with people on a personal level regardless of their rank, earned him immense respect and loyalty. If you're enjoying this video, you'll love my best selling book the Three Alarms and I'm currently offering it for free to my YouTube audience. Among other things, you'll learn how to build your antifragility and turn stress into strength, how to avoid the five most common traps to reaching your full potential and how to over overcome procrastination and become super productive. So get your free copy in the description below. And last but not least, we have courageous our final character trait and the 11th overall quality of great leaders. Now, courage and leadership means the ability to confront fear, uncertainty and adversity with confidence and determination. Courageous leaders are willing to take calculated risks that can lead to innovation and growth. And they're better at driving change, which is essential to survive in a very dynamic business environment. So how do you become more courageous? Well, the great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius provides a clue from his journal Temptations where he wrote the impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way. In other words, doing the very things that require courage is what strengthens our courage. So here are my top three ways leaders can strengthen their courage muscles. First up is Stand by your values. Be clear about your core values and stand firm on them. Even when it's difficult. Especially when making tough decisions, it's great to be able to refer to them. Take calculated risks. Encourage innovation by taking thoughtful risks and supporting your team when they do the same and step into difficult conversations here's the thing with difficult conversations, the longer you wait, the more difficult they tend to become. So practice addressing issues quickly and directly and you'll foster a culture of feedback, accountability, and transparency, all of which will drive continuous improvement. And over time, the more you step into the things that scare you, the less scary those things become. And I'll leave you with a nice quote from Nelson Mandela in this regard. He once said, I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. So hopefully by now you have a better understanding of the qualities required to become a great leader and how to develop them, whether they're cognitive abilities, people skills, or character traits. Be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss future videos and also check out my free newsletter and leadership training. You'll find the links in the description of this video. That's all for now. Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you again soon.