I believe you all will agree with me that Leaders are vital for any community or any nation. Without them this World would be much different. They inspired every progress, every action that took place throughout thousands of years.

Leadership is not a new phenomenon. Its origins date so long in history. Even cavemen had their Leader, one who was able to take responsibility and make decisions that would affect the destiny of his tribe. First Leaders organized group hunts, tribal norms and similar actions that were important to whole community.

As human species evolved, leadership evolved too. Leaders of today organize different actions and take care of different kind of groups. They run governments, companies, sports teams, families and so on. Bottom line, Leaders are indispensable.

But how can we tell if someone is a Leader or not?

Leader is a person who is ready to go outside of his comfort zone and do things he doesn’t like very much, but he does it well in the end. Leaders are action takers, and that’s one of the most important traits of a good Leader. Another important trait of a Leader is knowledge. If you want to be a Leader at something, for example at a Marketing company, you’ll have to possess a lot of knowledge about Marketing. So, a lot of knowledge + actions = a great Leader.

In addition, a Leader’s choices define him as a leader. A good Leader will make a good choices in a very difficult situation. A good Leader would be interested in all aspects of the World and living. He has to be informed, bold and confident.

Traits of a Leader

1) A strong desire to succeed

Would you like to be lead by an indifferent person, a person who takes for granted both success and failure? Probably not. An indifferent person can’t inspire action in others, can’t move them. In today’s World success is almost all that counts, especially when it comes to business, sports, and school. So, Leaders in these areas must be able to inspire ‘burning desire’ in their followers, because that burning desire can push us over our limits and lift us to heights of success. A good Leader will possess a strong urge for success!

2) Curiosity

This is an excellent trait that can help us in any field of life. Statistics have shown that students who are more curious tend to be more knowledgeable than others. In addition, curious employees do their job much more efficiently. And, you can guess if this is a good trait for a Leader.

3) Self-esteem

Self-esteem is just as important for a Leader as any other trait, if not even more important. Without self-esteem we can’t achieve very much in this World. A student with low self-esteem will achieve weaker results in his/her later career than his/her colleague who was always confident about his/her abilities. A person without self-confidence cannot be a Leader. That person may be an excellent follower, but never a Leader!

4) Good body language and social skills

Did you know that our body language is responsible for 55% of what we say? 55%, wow, that’s a lot. All researches have shown that our gestures mean much more than we actually think. In addition, politeness, ability to listen to others, hospitality, warmth, all add up to traits of a good Leader.

Is Leadership innate or it has to be learned?

It is learned! No one was born with great Leadership skills, Leadership skills are acquired through practice. If you want to be a Leader, you must engage into situations that are out of your comfort zone, that are new for you and that need your full involvement. Watch other Leaders and learn form them. Watch how they cope with different situations. I bet you all have Leaders in your family. It’s not easy to raise kids, and it demand a certain level of Leadership and responsibility to do so. Your parents are a sort of Leaders, and you can learn a lot from them.