Management: Traits of Successful Business Leaders

The renowned business consultant Peter Drucker said,
"The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me,
never say ‘I.’ They think ‘We.’ They think ‘Team.’ They
understand their job is to make the team function. They
accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but ‘We’
gets the credit–this is what creates trust, what
enables you to get the task done."

by Jeffrey Moses

Business managers at every level aspire to have the
ability to inspire their team or department and to
coordinate all aspects of the operations under their
charge to assure success. These two aspects of
management–the ability to inspire team members and the
ability to develop a cohesive team or department–are
the keys to successful leadership.

On a personal level, managers become leaders by
exhibiting the following traits and abilities:

Integrity and honesty
Managers who are unethical or dishonest in their
dealings with customers, other managers or team members
will not inspire others.

Loyalty
This is perhaps the single most important trait of a
leader. People will not work to their full capacity for
leaders they believe may turn against them or may not
support them in the future.

Optimism and courage
Leaders who are not overly swayed by the vicissitudes
of business will inspire others. Any type of major
project will have moments of difficulty. Leaders must
be farsighted enough to look beyond these and have the
courage to project a sense of optimism to others.

Selflessness
As stated by Drucker in the opening paragraph, a leader
is most inspirational when others know that he or she
will not assume sole credit for success but will assume
major responsibility for failure. Leaders form
successful teams by thinking of success in terms of
‘We,’ not ‘I.’

Knowledge and competency in the industry
Team members are seldom inspired by managers who are
not competent in the type of work that those team
members do. Exceptions to this are in highly technical
or specialized fields, in which an executive could not
be expected to be expert in the field.

Ability to make the most of available talent
Successful managers are able to mold, integrate and
coordinate the talents of their team members to
minimize weaknesses and maximize strengths. This allows
managers to make the most of the collective talent
within their group.

Dependability
Successful managers stand behind every commitment they
make. When they don’t, team members will usually be
reluctant to commit themselves totally to their work.
Strive to make other leaders, not just followers. The
best and most successful managers inspire and train
others to take initiative and assume responsibility for
goals. When team members become resourceful, take
initiative and become responsible for their own work,
team effectiveness is optimized.

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"A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership, of
getting along with people, of getting things done."

–Dwight D. Eisenhower