The 5 Qualities of an Effective Leader

Great leaders are not born, they're created over time. And in this video, I'm going to teach you exactly what you need to do so you can level up your leadership.

You know, it's funny, as you look at entrepreneurs around the world or business owners or people who are real advancing in their career, a lot of times you think that, hey, leadership are only for people who are actually leading people. What I've discovered is leadership is for everyone. And I discovered that along the way when I screwed it up badly. What I discovered is leadership is for everyone. No matter what level of leadership that you may or may not have, it doesn't matter if you're a stock clerk or if you're a Fortune 500 CEO, we can all have the benefit of raising our overall level of leadership. And I discovered many of these practices and the things I'm going to share with you today by doing them largely wrong the first time. As a result, my company's growth plateaued a little while, for a while, and I began losing team members that I desperately needed to build my business. Now again, I'm using business principles that apply to both life and business. So as I talk about leadership, ask yourself whether or not you feel like you're a strong leader or a leader who needs improvement. The reason is, is because your level of leadership will greatly determine your overall level of success. Now, I mentioned earlier that my biggest problem was is I did a lot of these things wrong the first time, and here's why I did not know what I did not know. The reason I say that is because when people come to you and they lead you improperly, imagine for a moment that they don't know what they don't know, and maybe they could see a video like this and help them out. Meanwhile, you can level up your leadership and actually be the living illustration of the leader you aspire to follow. Great leaders really all share five very specific qualities. And after mastering these qualities, you can level up your leadership just as I did. And it doesn't matter how brokenhearted or how broken your leadership is. Now, I'm telling you right now, I really messed up as a leader because I didn't know any better. And after this video, you're going to know better, which means you got to hold yourself accountable. Quality number one is they accept responsibility and they give away the credit on a regular basis. What do I mean by that? Very simply, great leaders don't just accept the accountability responsibility for the team, for the action, and for the results, but they also give away the credit when Those results are achieved to their team. For example, if I hired John and I tasked John to design something amazing, and John designed something amazing, and then my customer says, hey, that looks amazing. Well done. And they're giving me those props. I'm going to say, you know what? I appreciate that. I love the fact that you love that. However, let me tell you about John. John is actually the one that actually created that design, and it was amazing. John, I'm telling you what. John has been a linchpin of this organization for the number of months, and we're to continue letting his growth happen on a regular basis. John, well done, buddy. That's an example of giving the credit away. On the converse side or the opposite side? Let's do it this way. Let's assume that John messes up big time for a major customer. I have over here, okay, Mr. Customer is upset. They're angry even. And they're saying, I can't believe you do this, Whatever that terminology is, whatever that. That dysfunction. At the end of the day, they're angry, okay? They're not happy. As a leader, a quality leader, I'm going to say, you know what? I appreciate what you're saying. Give me a few moments. I will work on getting making sure that happens for you. Our company is known for doing X, Y and Z to the marketplace, and we'll make sure that we reconcile this for you immediately. I'm not going to say, you know what, you know what, it's not my fault. I know you hired us, but John, I'm telling you what, John's been struggling for a while. The dude can't sit, can't focus. They can't sit in his desk. And I know he screwed this up. You see the difference? Great leaders take the accountability and responsibility for their teams, their talent, and the outcomes, so to speak, while we edify those who actually brought the game to the forefront, we want to make sure that we are great leaders and that we take the responsibility and accountability and then we give away the credit. That's principle number one. Quality number two. Great leaders build trust through empathy. What I mean by that is great leaders are not constantly chewing their team apart. They're not yelling at their team, they're not defensive at their team, and they're not being demeaning at their team. Great leaders build rapport over time with consistent empathy but healthy boundaries. I'm not saying that the leaders should be so empathetic that they're constantly giving in to a team member's problem and concern on a regular Basis. What I'm saying is this true empathy is listening to the problem and the concern. It doesn't necessarily mean the leader agrees with the problem, the concern, or even the performance of the team member. What it does mean is that they're taking the time to listen to allow that team member to feel seen, valued, and heard. And as a result, rapport is built. And it's much easier to give constructive criticism, so to speak, or constructive improvement processes to that team member because they feel like there's a sense of trust. Trust is a major, major aspect in whether or not people stay with organizations or leave organizations. And it doesn't matter if it's the PTA or the boardroom, either one of those. When trust fails, the relationship fails. If the relationship fails, your businesses, your pta, or whatever can also fail. So we want to make sure we're constantly building trust through the power of empathy. All right, Quality number three. Firm, fair, and attentive. One of the most difficult transitions I've had to face as a leader is trying to balance the need to be firm and fair, but also listen and build trust through empathy. Why? Because as a leader, you feel like, okay, well, somebody might be taking advantage of me or I might be a little too harsh. So here's what I've discovered that works for me. Specifically, let's say I have a problem with a team member. Unless that team member's performance has been dropping. Let's say that team member actually has reasons why their performance has been dropping. I'm going to listen and build empathy and do the trust thing I already mentioned, But I'm also going to expect them to understand I have to be firm, and I have to be fair. Meanwhile, here are the milestones, Here are the expectations. Here's the way we're going to get there. Do you agree? Yes or no? Awesome. You agree? Fantastic. Okay. Now, the second part of that is making sure that I'm fair, which means I can't let Jane come in and I treat her one way, and I let John come in, and I treat him a different way. And then I let Bobby come in, and I treat him in a different way. And then Savannah comes in, and I treat her in a different way. When you have variable levels of standards, you end up creating an atmosphere of bias. And if you have an atmosphere of bias, you will lose the dignity and respect of your treat your team in a heartbeat. Which is why you've got to be very careful with being firm and being fair. Being firm is nothing more than setting a clear expectation Being fair is nothing more than setting the same expectation for everyone, regardless of the circumstance. It's what we call a principle and. Or a boundary, okay, that allows you to be attentive in the moment and to be attentive with the future outcomes and the future goals. Does that make sense? That's why being firm, fair, and attentive can take you a long way in actually growing not only yourself, not only your community, not only your business, but even your family relationships. You have the power and the authority to take complete ownership of how you lead. You may not be able to do that for every leader, but you can do it for you, for sure. All right, next up, our next quality. They grow themselves to grow others.

Great leaders are always, and I do mean always, growing. They're constantly reading, they're constantly listening to podcasts, they're constantly even watching YouTube videos, maybe even like this, to grow their overall leadership style and strategy. Great leaders are consistently seeking to grow themselves, with the added benefit, if you will. These are connected. I grow myself so I can grow others. Everything that I'm sharing with you today, I learned the hard way. Everything that I'm sharing with you today, I learned from a mentor, from a coach. You have to constantly be in that zone of personal development, constantly be in that zone of constantly learning to make sure that you are actually taking action on a regular basis to actually grow yourself. The more you ignore your blind spots, the more you ignore your defense mechanisms, the more you ignore the way you treat people, the quicker it is for you to fall. Fail as a leader. And let's be honest, you don't have to do that. All you have to do is engage. Grow yourself today. Begin teaching what you learn tomorrow. Grow yourself to grow others. All right, our final quality. Great leaders speak last, but they listen first. Great leaders know that there's brilliance in the room. And if they tap into that brilliance, they can actually head off a lot of problems, a lot of roadblocks of their own on the onset, rather than having to make all the decisions for everybody, shut everybody down, where nobody wants to talk in an environment just to make sure they're right. Then. Then the leader basically drives the car off the cliff and is like yelling at the other team members like they could do something about it. That's why we start with this trust piece. This trust piece is important as it flows through this entire thing. So as we're looking at speaking last and listening first, we. We are going to ask the team their perspective. We're going to hear what they have to Say we're going to ask for ideas. We're going to ask for potential roadblocks, and we're not going to get offended about it. Instead, we're going to sit down and listen. Hey, Jane, what do you feel about this? What kind of ideas do you have to kind of help us get past this curve? Awesome. Hey, John, how about you, dude? Yeah, what are you feeling? Awesome. Great. Bobby. Dude, I know you've been working in that sector for a while. What are you seeing that we're not seeing?

The process of listening first and speaking last will help you build trust, rapport, and unity. Because the people sitting at the table with you will understand that they're seen, they're valued, and they're heard. And every time people feel seen, valued and heard, they feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves. And you know what? Because you stepped up as a great leader, you are actually bringing that to the forefront. That's five qualities of a great leader. Let's hit them one more time. Accept responsibility and give away the credit. Build trust through empathy. Be firm, fair, and attentive. Grow yourself to grow others within your organization, whether that be the pta, the family, or the boardroom. And speak last and listen first. If you do these things, I know doggone well you're going to become an amazing leader that maybe even I would want to come work for. Or what could be more fun than that? Did you enjoy the video on how to level up your leadership with those five qualities? Well, if you did, I know you're going to love this video right here. That way you can keep leveling up.

You are not going to get there overnight. I don't care what you see on Instagram. I don't care what you see on Facebook or YouTube or whatever. There's no such thing as an overnight success.