Leaders are Not Born.. Leaders are Made..

Leaders to the Rescue   ( Image Credits http://www.lumaxart.com/  )

Leadership is one of the key elements that is required to succeed any team related activity. It could be sometimes be adopted to an individual who himself takes leadership for his/her own self and carries out the responsibilities her/she wants to accomplish. But most of the time its related to teams and without a good leader , a team is sure to loose direction and end up being a failiure.
People say that leaders are born, this is not always true and as the heading suggests  "Leaders are not Born.. Leaders are Made". Some of you may contradict this statement which could be true due to your personal experiences ( please do share your experiences in leadership in the comments section).   The following are some tips that a person can take note of and improve on which would help them to become great leaders if such a role is given to them or when they need to be one .



Tip #1  Always have a Calm Mind When Handling Your Team.. Don't Overreact.. 

A Leader is someone people look up to and looks for guidance.  A calm leader who weathers the storm can guide his team to greener pastures as long as he knows his goal and what he wants to achieve. The best example I can give here is  MS Dhoni  who is the Cricket Captain of India, This guy has an abundance of nerves of steal and when a pressure situation occurs  he has this uncanny ability to stay calm and make beautiful decisions that can change the game. 

When you are leader and a pressure situation occurs, always remember to stay calm and understand the problem you need to solve. Give yourself time to think about the options and talk with your team to get the correct solution.  Patience is a key element for a great leader and that attitude always reflect on the team. On the contray the team could get disarrayed when their leader is shouting at them all the time.  So first of all improve yourself and improve your mind to deal with hot situations.  Then you are on your way to become a great leader .


Tip #2  Have Faith in Your Team..

A Great Leader should be able to know the strengths and weaknesses of his team members and should be able to carry out tasks making ultimate use of his team without going to a different route. Also he needs to stand up for his team and show them that no matter what happens, he is there for them .  The example I can take here is how Arjuna Ranatunga  handled the situation of Muttiah Muralidaran during the Aussie tour of 1999. He took on the responsibility of his team mate and stood up to him when all the odds are against him.

A Great Leader stand up for his team so if you want to be a leader always believe in your team.


Tip #3  Look at things on a Wider Angle 

Good Leaders always look at all the possibilities of a situation before taking a decision . Sometimes decisions will be made from instinct but that comes from experience. Its always good to look at the positive and the negative effects at the same time so the decision you make will cater to both situations. So if you are an aspiring leader you need to learn this art.  


Tip #4   Be Flexible 


Leaders need to be flexible when making decisions and should have the ability to listen to his team members ideas and examine them if they can be implemented. If a good idea is proposed by a team member, a leader should be able to see if its the best idea within the team and should be able to make the decision of taking that idea forward.  Being a bureaucratic  will not help the team at any cause and could severely dent their perception about their leadership  So take a listen , be flexible and try to understand what your team members are communicating to you.  If you see if its a great idea then go ahead with it. It could be the ultimate oppurtunity for you and your team to gain success.


Tip #5   Be Knowledgeable about your Goals and Objectives


"A Leader who knows where he is going and where he is taking his team to , is  Great Leader ".  What is meant by this statement is that a Great Leader knows what his teams goals and objectives are and lays the foundation to achieve those goals and objectives.  Being blind about your main task and what you plan to achieve from it will not help anyone in the team including the leadership and the blame will solely go to the leader himself. So have a clear goal and objectives to achieve that goal.  This will help leaders to guide his team to glory.

Above are some tips that can be used and learned by people who wants to be great leaders. There are many more qualities that you need to have which of some are included in this superb article.


Surely you can't be born with all these talents and skills. That is the reason behind the heading of  this post.  But with  proper training , hard work , learning and determination you can be a leader too which  will separate the men from the boys and  the women from the girls. It does take time.. but again nothing comes easy right ?  =)


"Be a Great Leader" and show the world that you are the best.

Cheers !!

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