How to Become a Leader

It takes 2 years of professional experience to become a leader. That is the time it takes to learn specific leader skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 5 to 7 years years to become a leader.

Yes, anyone can be a leader. While not everyone is born a leader, anyone can become one with the right training and experience. A leader is created through teaching, learning, practice, observation, and experience over time. Being a leader is not a title someone gives you but is a state of mind.

To be a successful leader requires confidence, honesty, inspirational attitude, and mentorship abilities, to name a few.

If you've ever had the experience of guiding others through a major challenge or helping them reach specific goals or outcomes in their personal or professional lives, then you probably possess leadership qualities. The more you practice leadership skills, the better you will become.

Someone interested in becoming a leader - be it professional or personal - should assess whether they have the following traits and, if not, work on building them:

• A visionary who can take a vision and make it a reality.

• Willing to face the unknown, persevere through tough times, and make unpopular and difficult decisions even when others criticize them.

• Ability to connect with people and make them feel comfortable following your lead.

• Excellent time management skills and a strong willingness to learn.

• Ability to identify and effectively employ the talents of those around you, including how to boost their self-esteem

A leader uses the process of social influence to maximize the efforts of others towards the achievement of a goal. In other words, a leader can see how things can be improved and can motivate others to move toward that better vision. For someone to be a leader requires a very specific skill set.

One of the major qualities of a leader is high emotional intelligence. That is the ability to put oneself in the place of others, understand their concerns and solve problems.

In a professional setting, a leader understands both the business and human end of things and can empathize with customers and members of their teams.

A leader motivates others to reach a goal and simply creates an environment that will encourage others to develop their skills and imagination. A leader is someone others follow because they are trusted and respected community members.

Five qualities of a good leader are high emotional intelligence, situational leadership, ethics, and effective communication.

This is not meant to be an extensive list of attributes of a good leader but to cover some of the key attributes involved. There are many nuances to being a good leader that can take a lifetime to develop.

Top Five Qualities of a Good Leader:

1. Emotional Intelligence: Effective leaders focus on becoming more self-aware and prioritizing personal development. This allows one to be more adaptive, effective listeners, and resilient overall.

2. Situational Leadership: This comes down to how best to develop others. Good leaders adapt to whether an individual or group is ready, willing, and able to take a specific action. Delegating, coaching, and mentoring are important tasks of a leader.

3. Strategic Thinking: Good leaders must consider internal organizational factors, such as product roadmaps and staffing needs, and external factors, including government regulations and technology advancement, when making strategic business decisions.

4. Ethics: Strong leaders consider the ethical and civic consequences of their decisions - for both their customers and their teams. A good leader is open, transparent, and authentic.

5. Effective Communicator: Respected leaders can clearly communicate with individuals, business units, the entire company, and stakeholders outside the organization.

A leader, in simple terms, is a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal. A leader, by definition, goes first and leads by example so that others are motivated to follow them.

A leader typically has some personal vision or goal and can understand how best to reach this goal using the help of others. A leader then rallies others to work together toward the leader's vision. While a leader may seem to have authority over the group, a leader is not a job title but a state of mind.

A simple way to define a leader is anyone who has followers. Typically this means that for people to accept being led by someone, they must feel that they can trust the leader and that their intentions are pure.

Being a leader is not something you are born with; it can be learned through experience, education, coaching, and personal development.

Common traits of a leader include:

• Confidence

• Integrity

• Responsibility

• Self-Control

• Perseverance

• Passion

• Creativity