Saturday, June 20, 2009

Leadership








A good leader is hard to find. However, the fact remains that every company wants to employ individuals who showcase leadership qualities and this holds true for Tulip.

So what makes a great corporate leader? Six qualities can be said to separate the leaders from the followers:

Integrity: This is a deal breaker if you don't have it completely.
A deep understanding of the business: "You can't fake it. People will know." While you don't need to know every detail, you do have to have a good grasp of the business.

Consistency: While keeping things fresh is important, leaders cannot change direction frequently. They will lose people's confidence.

Willingness to admit a mistake: Everyone makes mistakes. If you're not making any, you're not doing your job right.

The ability to listen: Good leaders must be willing to handle opinions contrary to their own and absorb as much as they can.

Decisiveness: While you should listen to others' opinions, the final decision is yours to make. When CEOs fail, very often it's because they are not decisive. Average tenure for a CEO has fallen from more than a decade to three years because people lose confidence in leaders whose indecision results in failure.

Leadership is an interactive conversation that pulls people toward becoming comfortable with the language of personal responsibility and commitment. Leadership is not just for people at the top. Everyone can learn to lead by discovering the power that lies within each one of us to make a difference while practicing.

Leadership is applicable to all facets of your life: a competency that you can learn to expand your perspective, set the context of a goal, understand the dynamics of human behavior and take the initiative to get to where you want to be. Through discovering who you are and your life's work, you develop the self-awareness and confidence required to lead.
Every organization, circumstance, and leader calls for different courses of action. What is to be considered as "Good" leadership depends on various factors. These five principles self-esteem, planning, motivation, delegation, and empowerment are all important in improving your leadership skills. But these are not enough. The success of your leadership will ultimately depend on the way you recognize your organizations needs and how you can adapt your leadership