When asked to name their five top leaders of the world, most names that people pick would be common. What makes these leaders get the top of the mind recall and how do they stand apart from others?
There are a lot of leadership qualities that we associate with successful leaders. Different leaders employ different styles through which they provide direction, implement plans and motivate people. These styles can contradict one another. In today’s world, the complexity of globalization and technology are putting demands on leaders to move away from classical patterns of leadership and embrace combinations of different kinds of leadership styles which might be extreme in nature.
Here are the 7 ANDs of Leadership:
Dreams and Details
Sometimes it takes a dreamer to make the dreams of others come true. However, having big dreams and ideas is not enough.A leader should be able to dream big, make people believe in his dream, and be able to give out the tiniest details at any point of time. It’s this ability to dream big together with a keen attention to detail that differentiates a leader from the rest. It is critical for a leader to have the ability to explore not just the topic at hand, but also to analyze the reasons and issues around it.
Smart and Wise
There are smart leaders and wise leaders.
A smart leader is characterized by their relentless passion toward work, and business success. Smart leaders tend to polarize people. On the other hand, the driving force of a wise leader is purpose, values, and a passion to succeed at work.He is more open to unlearning and selectively forgetting past successes.A wise leader brings with him the ability to mobilize people.It is imperative that leaders combine social consciousness and business performance in order to be smart, but not at the expense of not being wise.
Patience and Impatience
It’s amazing to see how many leaders have leveraged their personal a trait of being impatient to their own advantage. Impatience goes hand in hand with energy, purpose and intensity. And this works immensely in today’s result driven corporate world.
A leader impatient for results,shows how engaged he is to achieve a business outcome.
However, when it comes to people it is altogether a different ball game.Leaders need to be patient with people. It will help you discover merits and talents in people which are beyond expectations. Being patient with people will enable a leader to respect different types of people and appreciate their strengths and weaknesses. Impatience towards results and patience with people has to be the new success mantra going forward.
Intelligent and interesting
Nowadays, it is not enough just to own degrees awarded by universities. One should also be intelligent. Intelligent people will be always hungry to learn, curious about things happening around the globe and will have an uncanny knack of understanding things on their own. But does intelligence alone suffice at the next level of leadership?Imagine a person who is intelligent, but who fails to generate interest among his peers and people. Would he ever be successful as a leader? The mantra is to be intelligent and interesting at the same time. As a leader, one needs to generate interest among the people who are part of his corporate and social ecosystem. With intelligence becoming a common denominator for leaders in today’s world, being interesting as well, is the key differentiator of a top class leader.
Collector and Connector
Today, a person’s net worth is equal to his network.Being a collector of people is an unavoidable characteristic for a successful leader. It’s very important to be a people’s person with superior networking skills that includes a large network of friends, colleagues and contacts.But just being a collector of people is not enough. Leaders need to be connectors as well. They should have the mindset to serve and help others by connecting people with more people.The act of connecting your networks to one another even if there is nothing for you to gain is a selfless act and the mark of a true leader.
Inspire and Aspire
One of the major reasons why people sign up for a leader is the level of inspiration he is able to provide his supporters. A leader can inspire others by being a role model, walking the talk or by being a great motivational speaker. Inspiring and motivating people to believe your visions and work towards a common goal is one of the greatest assets of any successful leader. However, providing inspiration alone is not enough in the long run. A leader has to inspire people to fulfill their own aspirations as well. Aspirations are individualistic in nature and as a leader if you can provide people around you ways to fulfill their aspirations,and inspiring them at the same time. This is what a new-age leader should aim to do
Mind and Mindset
A leader’s success is not only dependent on the sharpness of his mind; rather it’s a combination of his mind and mindset.
In the corporate world, it’s absolutely necessary to have an open mind with the right mindset to achieve great heights.A sharp mind is an individual trait that can be achieved through determination and consistent hard work. People around you are smart and as a leader, it’s essential to have a sharp mind to keep you at the head of the game.The right mindset can decide whether you succeed or fail. The right mindset is self-nurturing in nature and it benefits not only the person, but the people you interact with.
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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of SAP Labs India.
About the author: V.R. Ferose is the senior vice-president, Globalization Services at SAP Labs India.