Personal behavioural characteristics common to most effective leaders

Personal behavioural characteristics common to most effective leaders are:

1. Learn continuously: Leaders are never satisfied with what they know. On a daily basis, they allot time in order to become familiarized with new business aspects. They understand that learning is the best way out of any trap. Through consistent learning, they have the confidence to try lots of new things, keep those that work and quickly discard those that do not.
2. Listen intently: Leaders know what questions to ask and understand how to apply those lessons to their everyday life. They partner with people who can do things they can’t.
3. Have the ability to see things from other people’s perspectives: Truly great executives possess the ability to look beyond their own interests and can consider an issue from every possible angle. They are judgement free when analyzing a situation which affords them the ability to understand complex situations to their fullest.
4. Leaders learn from every experience:They try new things, take a lot of chances and take time to learn after every defeat or victory.
5. Acquire focused thinking: By removing distractions and mental clutter, leaders possess the ability to concentrate for extended periods of time and, thus can concentrate on a single issue and think with clarity. Effective executives focus on outward contribution. They gear their efforts to focus on results rather than on work itself.
6. View problems as temporary and surmountable: One of the defining characteristics of a leader is that they tend to believe that defeat is a temporary setback. Instead of turning setbacks into disasters, they view hurdles as challenges to be overcome and, thus try harder.
7. Effectively deal with disapproval: Leaders do not allow the approval or particularly disapproval of others to unduly influence them. When they encounter rejection, it doesn’t send them in a downward spiral because they see rejection for what it actually is – simply the opinion of another person who may or may not know what they are talking about.
8. Focus on continually improving their subordinates: Leaders relentlessly upgrade their team, using every encounter as an opportunity to evaluate, coach and build self-confidence. To the effective manager, every day is about growing people. Moreover, the best leaders care passionately about their people.