Two Traits of a Strong Leader

What are some characteristics of leadership? There have been several books written about them and some include passion, intelligence, responsibility, drive, compassion, energy, enthusiasm, charisma, the ability to communicate, etc...

I would like to focus on two that I believe are essential for strong leadership, vision and discipline. With vision leaders rally the team to move together toward a common goal. They energize the team’s efforts and keep them going during difficult times. The vision inspires and motivates, which are two of the most important responsibilities of leaders. Vision is what everyone on the team is looking for from their leaders. We are all searching for people to give us hope for a better tomorrow. By communicating their vision, leaders do that.

Discipline is required for leaders to set standards and show the way. Weak leaders talk but don’t lead by example. They aren’t willing to get into the trenches. They don’t want to take the time to talk to their employees and ask for advice. Without the discipline to show the team that they are in this with the rest of the team, the leader quickly will lose creditability. Once that is lost, there is no recovering leadership even if they stay in the position.

I believe that vision and discipline are both required for an individual to be a leader. If someone only has vision without the discipline, they are dreamers. They have big ideas with little results and tend to move from one venture to the next without ever accomplishing their potential. They give up when the work gets hard. Eventually, other people realize this and stop following them. They are bright stars that burnout in the night.

If someone only has discipline without vision, then they are a dedicated employee but not a leader. They know what needs to be done and will carry out the assignments successfully. But, they don’t have the ability to lead the team to the next level of accomplishment and growth. They can “lead” an organization but the business will hit a plateau and never go above. These individuals will also never feel comfortable in the leadership role and will actively seek someone else to take the lead.

Do you have these two essential qualities to be a leader? What can you do to raise your level of leadership? Do you need accountability to help with discipline or someone to help you find your vision? If you find that you have a lack of discipline or your vision for what you want to create in your business is not clear, these situations can be helped.

For finding your vision, I would recommend looking at why you started your business. What are some of the things you love about your business? If you could get up in the morning and do anything you wanted without worries or responsibilities, what would you do? Answering these questions can help you find your vision.
If you lack discipline to do the things you know you should to grow your business, then you need accountability. This can often happen when times get tough because we feel there is nothing we can do to make things better. We feel things are out of our control. However, I have found that if we start to concentrate on what we can do and focus on doing our best there, things start to improve. Once this begins our energy to continue increases and discipline become easier.

I would love the opportunity to assist with either finding your vision or being your accountability partner.