Qualities of Leader
Leaders are needed in many of life's situations. Students in school have their school prefects. Armies have their admirals and generals. A film has its manager. A prison has its warden. In each succeeding generation, we see leaders emerging to lead mankind. Wherever it is, be it the school room, the battlefield or the board room, people who are chosen to lead usually share the same character and qualities that make for good leaders.
The personality of a leader is very important. A leader must be someone who is respected and is looked upon to set the best example. His judgment must be trusted and he must be able to evoke love from the people he leads. A leader who is despised by his followers will not last for long at the helm.
A leader must have the willingness to lead. He must have the initiative to rally men around him. There is no place for half-heartedness in a good leader.
The next important thing is character. A leader must have tenacity of spirit, clarity of mind, great determination and courage. He must know exactly what he wants to do and then be determined to carry it out. Fact a non verba must be the maxim guiding a good leader.
A good leader must not have a fatalistic attitude towards life. When the chips are down and the problems mount, the leader must have the vision and fortitude to lift his followers out of the gloom. It is during times of crisis that a leader's abilities are tested.
While religion is not a necessary quality of good leaders, we must look at history and see that all good leaders of the past had some force or inward ideology that motivated them in their lives. For example, although Gandhi was just a simple unarmed man, his insistence on non-violence gained him huge respect and a multitude of followers and he eventually managed to gain independence for India.
It is possible for a leader to have all the qualities of a great leader but still lacks the most important one that is a sense of what is morally right and wrong. Adolf Hitler is a good example. Youth gangs and secret societies that exist in both Eastern and Western countries are often involved in crimes of all genres. These are led by leaders without a moral sense of what is right and wrong.
Finally, the real test of a good leader is the answer to this question, "Do men follow him?" A good leader is not only respected because of his character and vision, he is also loved for his honesty, his love for truth and his sense of fair play. A person who possesses such qualities will make a good leader.
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