The Qualities of a Strong Leader

I would say the signs of a strong leader start with this. Self-awareness, I think really having a good sense of what you're really good at doing and what you're not really good at doing, and being able to own that and be confident and comfortable in your own skin, and somebody that has really good emotional intelligence with managing teams, leading teams and directing teams. (gentle music) My definition of leadership is someone who leads by example and someone who allows the people that are working for them to do their job autonomously and then removes obstacles that they might have. So a good manager, in my opinion, doesn't really interfere in the day-to-day work unless there's a problem that needs to be solved or something that needs attention. First and foremost, making sure you're taking care of your people. You've got to make sure that everyone has the right tools to get the job done every day, and make sure that their voice is heard. It's very easy to be a dictator, but it's not always successful. Certainly listening is most important. You have to be able to listen to people, you have to be able to submit to other people. It's like a marathon, you know, you have to pass that baton off every once in a while for others to be able to help you out in the race, because if you're always leading you're gonna get tired of doing the work and burnt out of doing the work that you're doing. Good leaders can take criticism, constructive criticism. They've all been able to look at things that, you know, what anybody would consider a subordinate might be offering up as criticism or feedback, they're able to take that, digest it, and grow from it. I think a willingness to kind of roll their sleeves up and get into the weeds. There's no egos, you know, everybody kind of checks that at the door, and everybody's willing to kind of, you know, be amongst everybody else. Our CEO has an office that he's never in. He actually has a desk that's out on the floor with the sales team. He stands there, and I really appreciate that from, you know, from his perspective as the leader. Understanding your team, understanding their strengths and their weaknesses, and then utilizing those strengths. People have opinions, they may or may not say them, and so as a leader if you can get your team to voice their opinions, I think it's gonna make the team stronger as a whole. The fact that they care, they pass the care test, right. People will work for you if they know that you have a vested interest in them. I mean, they'll show up and they'll work for a title, but you can get more out of people and you get more of people, when they know that you care about who they are and where they're going. Being able to put yourself in somebody else's shoes, and understand where they're coming from, why they have the ideas or the thoughts that they have, really helps you to have positive interactions, helps you to be the leader that can help other people. It's not about saying, hey, I'm the leader so this is exactly what we're gonna do. It's about understanding what everyone's needs are and figuring out the best strategy for the organization as a whole that's gonna bring everybody together to meet those goals for the company.