QUALITIES OF A GREAT LEADER
Everyone is a leader but not everyone believes this. There are certain qualities one must possess to become a great leader and they are:

1) BE A VISIONARY:
Before you get your team, you must have a vision. You must see the end from the beginning. You must have foresight and know where you are headed to before getting your team. Then, you communicate this vision to the members of your team. Just like an Engineer having a contract to build a mansion. Before he starts drawing, he must first see the mansion in his mind. Visualise it and make it real to himself before putting it on paper. That is what leaders should do. See the end of the mission right from the beginning. Know where you are going to. Have a clear long term goals and short term goals.
With the spirit of foresight, every leader is a genius.

2) BUILD STRONG RELATIONSHIP:
Remember you cannot accomplish your mission alone. You need a team. Build a strong relationship with your team members. Be interested in them. Know them. Call them by their names. They should feel a sense of belonging in the team.
People are different and should be treated differently. Do not treat all your members the same way. You shouldn’t have any favourite but you should treat them according to their personality. It should be more than a team; it should be a family.
The way you treat your team members, that will be the same way they will treat your clients or customers.

3) FOCUS ON ‘WE’ NOT ‘I’:
There is an organization I used to work with. It is prohibited to say ‘I’ or ‘Me’. It has to be ‘We’ or ‘Us’. We believed that to achieve anything, we must do it together. If we win, we win together and if we fail, we fail together. A good leader should not think of himself alone but the people he is leading.
A tree does not make a forest and team work is what makes the team work well.
We are stronger together.

4) LISTEN TO OTHERS:
Your team members are not just there to follow you; they are there to guide you too. Listen to their opinion. The leader is not necessarily the smartest or most intelligent. He is someone who has a vision and can inspire others with that vision to accomplish the set out goals. Sometimes you do not have all the answers, you need counsel from your team members and sometimes mentors.
A leader who does not listen to his team members will one day have no team to lead.

5) CELEBRATE PROGRESS:
When you have a long term goal as a team, break it down into short term goals and then daily tasks. When you accomplish these daily task, celebrate yourselves. Celebrate after every mile stone. When you celebrate, you build strong relationship and commitment in the team.
Learn to celebrate every victory but do not celebrate mediocrity.

6) IMPROVE OTHERS:
This is very important, please pay close attention to this.
Your team members should not be liabilities. They should be assets. And the only way to do that is to improve them. Do not leave them the same way you met them. Give them responsibilities and let them do it by themselves. They should learn on the job.
Train them in such a way that they will want to leave you and at the same time do not want to leave you.
A good leader takes others to where they want to go. A great leader takes others to where they do not want to go but where they need to be.
Give them task. Let them make mistakes and learn. Watch them grow.
A good leader leads followers but a great leader leads other leaders.
Be a great leader.