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Qualities Of A Great Leader

Decent Essays

I am fortunate. I belong to an exclusive group of which only .04% of the population of our country are members. I am a military child. Because I grew up as a military dependent, it took me a while to realize how special and unique are the men and women who served in our armed forces. This was the norm as far as I was concerned. In my mind, my dad just went to “work” and all our friends and neighbors did the same. As I matured I began to realize how lucky I was to live among the guardians of our freedom, for it allowed me the opportunity to see examples of exceptional leadership from as early as I can remember. It was watching these leaders over the years that I begin to recognize the traits that make up a great leader. The three …show more content…

A great leader draws upon all of this collective experience to achieve his or her vision.
The ability to inspire others is another key characteristic of a successful leader.
A true leader leads by example and measures their success by the success of their team. Many of the military leaders I know are highly respected by their troops because they are willing to work along side them, to listen to their ideas, to learn from them, to encourage them to achieve their own success, and to take responsibility if things go wrong. On the contrary, many of us have experienced people in authority over the years who treat their subordinates like they have no intelligence, who micro-manage every detail of a job or task, and who are unwilling to listen to ideas or opinions of others. These authority figures are not great leaders or successful because the people who work with them are not inspired to achieve success. The ability to inspire others is developed with maturity, through experience, and by practicing active listening, caring, patience, learning to communicate effectively, behaving ethically and being trust-worthy. All leaders undoubtedly come up against obstacles in their quest to achieve success. Setbacks and failure are absolutely unavoidable, but it is how great leaders

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