Whilst leadership skills can be worked on and improved, it is those who have these naturally occurring traits that do best in the world of business. My old mentor Reddy Kancharla was one of those people, he has all of the leadership skills and abilities of a natural born leader but not content with that he would always look for ways in which he could improve his leadership skills and become better, very inspirational. If you have dreams of becoming a CEO, launching your own business or achieving a management position, these are the natural abilities which you should have.
Ability to Inspire
People look to leaders for inspiration and as a leader you should be able to understand how different people operate and how you can tap into that in order to inspire them. People are inspired for different reasons, some for financial gain, others for success and some for personal achievement. A key skill in leadership is being able to identify how each person can be inspired, and then using that to get the best out of them.
Ability to Communicate
As you can imagine one of the key roles of a leader is communicating with their team and whilst this is something which can certainly be worked on, the very best are those who just know. When it comes to speaking a leader should be able to translate their message in a clear and concise way that is easy to understand. Remember that communication is a two way street, which is why greta leaders should also be able to listen and take criticism, complaints and advice when the time is right.
Ability to Look Ahead
Something which Reddy used to do so well was look beyond the horizon and make future plans for the business. In doing this he was not only able to spot opportunities which the business could use to find higher levels of success, but also spot any potential problems which were coming. This is an ability which a leader must have in order to best lead their team.
Ability to Take Decisions
One of the telling factors between those who are born to lead and those who are not, is in their ability to take decisions, regardless of how difficult they are. Leaders don’t just make snap decisions either, they weigh up they pros and cons, they calculate the risks associated with their choice and using all the information and advice they have available to them, they take those decisions in a swift manner.
Ability to Motivate
The very best leaders have a natural gift to motivate their team, no matter what that looks like. A reader who can’t get their team energized and working hard to achieve a common goal is one who is not born to lead, and this is a telling characteristic in all great leaders.
If you want to become a leader then you need to be able to inspire, to motivate, to see beyond the now and to take decisions no matter how difficult they may be.
