Do You Have the Traits of a Visionary Leader?

What are the traits of a leader?

I often work with people who think of themselves as leaders or influencers of their company or tribe. If you talk about being a good or not-so-great leader, you’re usually making a comparison to someone else. People almost always have an image of someone who represents their idea of a good leader.

If you think of yourself as a leader, here’s what I’d like you to do:

• Take a moment to consider what—and who—you think about when you say that you want to be a leader. Who do you think of that represents that?

• Then go a step further and ask yourself this: If I were to be a leader, who would I be modeling myself after?

In times of war, people often think of a leader as a general or military figure, but more often today we think about business or political leaders. In a recent Facebook post I shared that I was curious about how people thought of leaders based upon perceived characteristics of good leaders. Most of those who responded to my post mentioned many of the traits often linked to leadership.

There’s been a lot of research on leadership traits. Below are the commonly recognized skills you need to have or develop in order to lead and encourage those who follow you.

Good leaders are able to… 

• Listen to others and absorb their message.
• Recognize and develop skills and abilities in others, bringing out their best.
• Inspire trust in others.
• Do the right thing.
• Walk their talk.
• Accurately assess themselves and their own capabilities.
• Challenge the status quo.
• Seek out and utilize feedback.
• Give feedback in a direct but caring way.
• Tolerate differing viewpoints.
• Demonstrate behavioral flexibility.
• Think systemically.
• Think for the long term.

Taking it a step further, a visionary leader is one who can do all of this and articulate a vision that inspires their followers. (According to Burt Nanus in Visionary Leadership, a vision is a realistic, credible, attractive future for your organization.)

Do you possess all of these skills?

If not, are you committed to developing the ones you lack?

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I like to collect stories about belief change experiences. If you have any interesting ones, let me know or post them below so I can comment on them in subsequent articles or posts.

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About Terry: Terry Hickey, M.S., is a Certified NLP Professional Coach, Business Trainer and Consultant, a Certified Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the co-owner of NLP Advantage Group. Originator of the Belief Breakthrough Method™, Terry specializes in teaching coaches and entrepreneurs how to rapidly resolve limiting beliefs about wealth and success. His tips and strategies can help you launch yourself into the future you want… NOW. http://terryhickey.com/