Top 7 Qualities of a Great Leader

Effective & efficient leadership is a must! The qualities I am about to share with you are derived from the "The Trilogy of 7". This is a concept that I personally created to help everyone master the three core fundementals of business: Marketing, Sales, Serives.

If you are in a leadership role, regardless if you are a business owner, president of a company, sales manager or a team leader, commit these 7 qualities of an Effective & Efficient leader to memory and you WILL become that person.

1. NEVER LET ANYONE FIGURE YOU OUT!
   
   Simpy put, once you become predicable, you become vulneralbe.
   Great leaders keep there entire operation on their toes, they are the individuals that thrive in business! Never respond to the daily situations the same way, everyday. Once your team members think that they know how you will respond or react to common everyday events, they then believe that they have figured you out. Never let this happen. Don't come to work at the same time everyday, don't leave and return for lunch at the same time everyday, don' hire and terminated based on the same strategies everyday. Don't always market your products the same way, etc. Efficient and effective leaders NEVER let anyone figure them out!
   
   
2. LIVE LIFE, LEARN TO LOVE AND LEAVE A LEGACY!
   
   This is a 4 part structured philosphy. First, an effective leader will LIVE THEIR LIVES to the fullest. For example, their god, their family, and then their job. Structure is clearly defined and the lifes are meaningful. Live your life so that joy, peace, and the truely important things that your life has to offer are always there for you.
   
   Secondly, an effective leader LEARNS everything they can at every given moment. Education is motivation and knowledge is acquired is fuel for their business success. The more you learn, the more that you can teach, and the more that you can teach, the faster you become a mentor.
   
   Thirdly, an effective leader has LOVE in his/her life. You have two separate areas of your life; business life and personal life. Once you leave the office, your emotional love of someone or something must come into you world. Whether it be your family, your friends, or a love of a hobby. Emotional bliss is something to be cherished. Find it and keep it!
   
   Last but not least, is to leave a LEGACY. As human beings, we all want to be remembered, we all want to leave a legacy. How will you develop, manage, and subsequently leave a legacy that your children, your family, and your friends will be able to continue your vision. A great leader creates a legacy. Create yours, then pass it on.
   
   
3. GIANTS WILL PERISH WHILE CHASING MINNOWS!
   
   An effective and efficient leader does not chase down meaningless business. In order to be a giant in your industry, a superstar, a top producer, or to become "THE MAN/WOMAN", you must market your business to the big fish, sell your products to the big fish, and provide exceptional service to all of the big fish that you have capture. The effective and efficient leader builds, trains, and maintains a dynamic sales force that embraces this concept. Sure, you will have to go after a couple of minnows every now and then, but do not fear marketing, selling and servicing the big fish.
   
   
4. OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES MUST BE INGRAINED IN YOUR BRAIN!
   
   As of right now, do you know how to do everyones job in your company? As an effecient and effictive leader, one of your primary focuses should be to know how to take care of the day-to-day activities of your key level team members positions. For example, if you have sales manager, do you know, on a day to day basis, what he/she does with all of their sales people. Do you know what days of the week the sales meetings are held, or do you know who is the top producer and why? Another example, do you know what your operation manager/business manager does on a daily or weekly basis? Have all of the taxes been paid, receivable and payables, where do they stand? I could go on an on. The point here is if any of your key level, senior management individuals decides to leave your company, or if they were to get a prolonged illeness, are you fully prepared to cover and train another individual for that position? Again, do you know how to do their job? This is the million dollar question, literally. If you do not know the basic functions of everyone in your company, then you are vulneralbe to a negative impact on your operations. Learn what and how they do their jobs, and have it ingrained in your brain.
   
   
5. THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMODITY IN BUSINESS TODAY IS "PEOPLE"!
   
   Simply put, "employee dupiciation" is the secret that effective and efficient leaders possess. They are always trying to attract success, and through this attraction,, they will build a bullet proof organization. A effective and efficient leader is always networking and searching for top notch, high quality individuals to bring into their business. Always! Even if you are fully staffed, keep planting the seeds that will make your business a continued success. Once you have planted the seeds, you must water them, cultivate them, and take care of them. This means that you must be a part of some networking group, business luncheon, etc...Then, actively and consistently participate in these activities. You and I don't know what tomorrow will bring you. If you already have highly polished, top notch individuals in your organization, don't you think that some other company will or may be at this moment trying to steal them from you? What if you lost them? Are you prepared to replace them with an equal or more qualified person? "Employee duplication" is the key to always being an effective and efficient leader.
   
   
6. BUILD, TRAIN, AND MAINTAIN A DYNAMIC ORGANIZATION!
   
   In order to be a great leader, you need to first off, "build" a dynamic organization. This is accomplished by surrounding yourself with professional, successful individuals that have that "can do" attitude. Then, once those individuals are in place, you must train them to their fullest potential. Remember, education is motivation, motivation is not education. Once this completed, you must "maintain" this dynamic group of individuals within your organization.
   Employee turnover creates complications and becomes expensive. You must build, train and maintain your dynamic organization in order to be an effective and efficient leader.
   
   
7. I CAN DO ALL THINGS!
   
   These are the 5 most powerful words a great leader says to themselves everyday. There is no challenge, no situation, no problem, no hurdle that is too great or no problem that cannot be solved. The effective and efficient leader will always be willing to accept a new challenges, new shifts in the market, new training techniques for the sales people, etc.
   Nothing will take an effective and efficient leader down, nothing. There are 5 parts to this quote:
   (#1) I (#2) CAN (#3) DO (#4) ALL (#5) THINGS
   "I" is you. Only you can do all things. "CAN" is the positive mental attitude required to be a great leader. "DO" is to actually get thing done. Make it happen. "ALL" is everything that your are faced with on a day to day basis gets acomplished. "Things" are anything that comes across your desk is welcomed with open arms. Good, challenging, or indiferrent.

Dan Lightfritz

Entreprenuer, motivational speaker, business owner, Mortgage Banker, & former professional model

(407) 902-9960