“The best leaders have employees who follow them anywhere….they understand results are achieved not because they have the perfect strategy or know how to give orders, but because the people who work for them feel empowered to do their very best”. (Carol Hymowitz, The Wall Street Journal). For the team members to have the confidence in the leader, the leader should possess a great many qualities. This topic tries to identify some of the qualities a person should possess to become a leader.

A leader must have a long term vision of what has to be achieved in the future. He should possess the quality of challenging the existing systems in the work and must have an innovative mind to come up with new ideas that are capable of improving the existing system. The ability to foresee the future and the need and the skill to meet the challenges put forward by changes headlong makes him a strong and able leader. The new techniques developed by him might have to face the setbacks from the other members in the organisation. The success of the leader lies in his ability to overcome these obstacles and overcoming them. This requires the ability to influence the people – the management as well as the team- consciously and unconsciously and a thorough knowledge on the matter to explore the new channels.

The dexterity of the leader in forecasting the future and his charisma provide the team members the drive to move forward; by identifying, exploring and exploiting the unforeseen challenges. To be a leader one has to identify his strengths and weaknesses, and use the opportunities put before him to enhance the positive traits and overcome the negative ones. He identifies the possible threats before him and prepares himself in meeting it cautiously with minimal impact.

A good leader provides room for the team members to grow in a promising manner. He set the pace and expects his team members to follow the same giving them freedom to do the work with minimal interference. This improves the confidence of the team members and makes them adept to move with the transitions happening around them. A leader does not work for his personal gain but to that of the team. The awareness of this truth makes the team members trust the leader for their development. A confident team driven by the magnetic personality of the leader thrusts the company forward to achieve excellence in its performance.

To be a leader, one must possess good communicative skills. The message that is to be conveyed has to be sent at the right time in the right quantum without any ambiguity. This skill must be utilised for building relationships, thereby laying the basis for better knowledge and growth. He should be flexible to accepting new ideas and knowledge. He must possess the ability to applaud and appreciate the good work performed by his team mates. This adds to the motivation of his subordinates.

Hay/McBer identifies the leadership styles as coercive leaders, authoritative leaders, affiliative leaders, democratic leaders, pace setting leaders, and coaching leaders. These explain, in brief, the ingredients a person should possess to be a leader.