Dare to Lead

Abstract

While some people have inherent leadership qualities, it is believed that leaders attain their leadership knowledge and skills through mentoring, training and self-discipline. Numerous studies have shown that the best leaders have one quality in common -- continuous learning. Each successful leader must possess the same key component -- influence. Leadership, in a nutshell, is the ability to attract followers. Moral issues also must be considered because some successful leaders have attracted many followers but maybe for the wrong reasons or purposes. Leaders who empower and enable constituents must be willing to listen, and listening sometimes requires a leader to hear things s/he doesn't want to hear. Finally, the leader must respond to the message through verbal or nonverbal feedback to ensure that the message was properly received.