QUALITIES OF A SUCCESSFUL LEADER

Leader is a person who provides vision, direction and motivation to the subordinates to
achieve great actions. Leading involves providing leadership. Leaders are in all areas like
Business, Politics, Education and so on. In the words of George Terry, Leadership is the
activity of influencing people to strive willingly for group objectives. Alford and Beatty
define, Leadership is the ability to secure desired actions from a group of followers
voluntarily, without the use of coercion. Great leaders have shaped the destiny of people,
organizations and even countries. Regardless of their vocation there are certain common traits
about great leaders such as they are extremely motivated, set high standards for themselves and
their followers, love to accept challenges, eager to learn new things, having focused approach,
etc. Decisions and actions of such leaders provide lot of satisfaction to their followers. Effective
leadership is required to lead and guide the subordinates to perform organizational tasks
effectively.
It is observed that many people interpret the terms leadership and managership
synonymously. However it is not so. Leadership can exist even in an unorganized set up while
managership exist in a formal organization set up. Separating leadership from managership will
help in focusing on qualities rather than on qualifications of the leader. Leadership though is an
important element in managing. The essence of leadership is followership. People like to follow
that person whom they feel can help them in achieving their desires and expectations.
Every manager develops a style in managing the activities. Such styles vary from leader
to leader, from situation to situation, and from organization to organization. The main types of
leadership styles are:
Autocratic Style is old fashioned and now outdated to a considerable extent. It only directs the
followers to do without asking questions. A manager with old fashioned/traditional outlook
assumes positive expectations from the subordinates. His leadership is imposed leadership and
lacks popular support. He commands and expects compliance. He has full control on his
subordinates and gets the work done from them even by using force. Subordinates honour him
out of fear of punishment and not because of affection for him.
Bureaucratic Style is noticed in the case of government departments, public bodies and public
sector enterprises. It is not effective in the business world particularly in the private sector. It
fails to introduce innovation and flexibility in the organization as per the need of the situation.
Such leaders do not use their discreation they function within the framework prepared by rules
and regulations. Here, the decisions are taken by the leader strictly as per the rules and
regulations set. A bureaucrat wants his subordinates to follow his orders and instructions in total.
Delays in decision-making are not taken seriously. The overall approach of leadership is
mechanical/casual.

Consultative Style is constructive, liberal and sympathetic towards subordinates as their views
are taken into consideration while taking decisions. The subordinates are allowed to express their
views freely and are taken into consideration while taking decisions by the leader. It is liberal
and willing to consider the suggestions of subordinates with open mind. A consultative leader
consults his subordinates on his proposed decisions and actions. He encourages participation of
subordinates in the decision-making process. It gets support and respect from subordinates and is
treated as the best style of leadership. This leadership style is also called Democratic Leadership
Style.
Laissez-faire Style is rather passive. The subordinates are given full freedom to take decisions
and actions, independently. Guidance from the leadership is limited and many matters are left for
the consideration and decisions by subordinates. The leader does not motivate or guide or even
encourage the subordinates to take initiative and interest in the work. The leader is rather
indifferent to his responsibilities. He acts more as a chairperson in generating and evaluating
alternatives in search of group consensus.
Paternalistic Style aims at creating a family atmosphere within the organization. The leader is
respected and treated as a father figure by the subordinates. This type of leadership is more
suitable in small organizations, where there are a handful of employees, and just one leader or
boss. The leader advises, guides, consoles and helps the subordinates even during their personal
hardships. This style is mostly followed in Japanese organizations. The leader considers himself
as a parent figure.
Sociocratic Style attempt to run their organization like a social club. They believe in a warm and
pleasant social atmosphere. For them, the interest of the subordinates comes first and then that of
the organization. The superior takes a decision by keeping the interest of the subordinates. The
interest of organization may be secondary. He consults the subordinates for decision making.
Neurocratic Style is highly risky oriented and wants to get the things done at any cost. He is
highly sensitive and gets quickly upset at failures. The leader may be emotional and eccentric
and may not consult the subordinates in decision making. He takes the decision and is
responsible for decision making but he may shift the responsibility on to his subordinates.
Situational Style now-a-days in most well managed organizations, the managers follow
situational leadership style. This means, the leadership style varies depending upon the situation.
In other words, the leader may be autocrat at times, consultative at times, and participative at
times, depending upon the decision and the situation.
Managers need to be good leader. A leader according to Websters Dictionary is a
person who takes charge of or guides a performance or activity. To be a Successful Leader,
one must possess good qualities. The qualities are as follows:
An ideal Leader needs Self Confidence which is one of his personal traits and useful for facing
complex problems and challenging situations easily and effectively. It is a rare quality because of

which a person feels that he has capacity to solve his problems independently. This selfconfidence creates initiative to deal with all challenging situations effectively.
An ideal leader requires initiative while performing his job. He must know the art of doing right
thing at a right time and also to take appropriate decisions without any delay. He also needs
innovative mind so as to lead his subordinates tactfully under varied situations. In addition, he
needs imagination to discover new ideas or new techniques for handling business activities.
He should be emotionally matured. He neither gets frustrated by one or two failures nor
overjoyed by one or two favourable results. He always behaves with a sense of self-discipline.
A leader should possess the ability to think rationally. For this, he needs sound educational
background. A leader should be superior as compared to his followers. He will get respect from
them only when he proves his superior quality intelligence. He should be intelligent to judge the
situation around him and offer suitable leadership style.
He must possess decisiveness. This means ability to think positively. He must be able to
formulate appropriate line of action.
He should be an effective communicator. He should be able to communicate his thoughts in an
accurate manner. Even motivation of followers is possible easily, if the leader is an effective
communicator. In addition, he should be able to understand clearly and correctly the
communication from his subordinates. In short, a communication skill is one useful trait of a
good leader.
He needs dynamic personality for influencing his subordinates. It is the basic requirement of a
good leader in business and also in other aspects of life. It is the sum of total of physical, mental
and social qualities available within an individual. It is a comprehensive term. He should be to
face any change-favourable/unfavourable with confidence/ease.
An ideal leader needs vision and foresight. He needs capacity to imagine the situation or
problems likely to develop in the near future and adjust his leadership style accordingly. These
two qualities bring success and popularity to a leader.
He needs flexibility in his approach. He should be able to change his views, policies and methods
as per the changes taking place around him. He should be liberal, flexible and adjustable as per
the needs of the situation.
A manager who is unwilling to assume responsibility of guiding the group fails as a leader. A
manager may delegate his authority but he cannot shift his responsibility.
He should possess knowledge of inter-personal skills to understand others. He can direct,
motivate and coordinate the efforts of subordinates only when he understands their mind and
deals tactfully. A good leader should be knowledgeable. The subordinates took forward to the
leader to come to their rescue at the time of administrative crisis. Such knowledgeable leader is
respected by his subordinates.

He needs administrative capacity. This enables him to have expected result from his followers.
He as a leader has to discharge various duties. He therefore, needs technical knowledgeable
relating the area of his operation. It will enable the leader to evaluate the performance of his
subordinates.
A manager has to deal with his subordinates of varied types. He must be able to satisfy his
subordinates and create confidence in their minds. For this, he needs knowledgeable of human
psychology. In addition, a good leader also needs patience for avoiding hasty decisions and
actions which may prove troublesome to his organization. A good leader also needs patience
while dealing with his subordinates and others.
He as a leader should be able to judge people and situations. He has to take decisions quickly
and also correctly as per his judgement of the overall business situation. Similarly, he should be
fair and impartial while dealing with the demands and disputes of his subordinates. Here, proper
judgement of the situation is required.