Thousands of books and articles have been published with the aim of summarizing the necessary aspects of a good leader. Ultimately, the qualities of a good leader cannot be quantified and boiled down without some simplification. In this article, however, we attempt to summarize some of the basic qualities good business leader that needs to be present.
Willingness To Learn
Leaders in business cannot rest on their laurels or remain static in their understanding. A good leader will constantly be improving their understanding of the field in which they operate and the mechanisms that determine business success. Learning is a constant process. In recent years, companies have started to employ technologies to develop leadership. These educational platforms, usually delivered online or as part of a software package, are designed with constant improvement in mind. Leaders that cannot improve their skills and understanding won’t progress far at all.
Empathy
A lack of empathy can seriously damage the quality of leadership within a business. Good business leaders need to be able to understand where staff members, consumers, and collaborators are coming from. They need to be able to get a firm grasp of other people’s motivations if they are to have any chance of building meaningful relationships.
Fairness
Conflict and grievance management is part of the job of any business leader working with a large group of colleagues. Good business leaders need to be fair when dealing with conflicts or grievances if they are to nurture a productive workplace and retain the right staff members. Being fair is not always easy, and it helps if a business leader has access to standards and protocols for conflict management. Clearly established principles help to ensure institutional fairness.
Strategic Thinking
A good business leader needs to be capable of long-term strategic thinking and strategic planning. Strategic planning involves the consolidation of a huge range of factors in order to build an effective roadmap for future growth. In the modern business environment, strategic thinking needs to be based on sound data analysis.
Big data (defined as sets of data that are so large and diverse that they can only be assessed with the aid of machine learning algorithms) is proving to be extremely important in business strategy. Strategic thinkers are able to take a step back and look at the bigger picture while making good use of big data sets. Good strategic planning involves the development of incremental project goals with the aim of achieving broad objectives. Strategic thinking is typically seen as a ‘thought lens’ through which institutional objectives can be viewed and planned.
Creativity
Good business leaders need to be able to think outside of the box in order to find creative solutions to complicated problems. Creativity is currently recognized as one of the most crucial aspects of good leadership by publications such as Harvard Business Review and scholars looking at business psychology. Without creativity, innovation would be extremely scarce in the workplace. Business success in the modern era is reliant upon innovation.
