Suggested qualities of leadership

Every leader should maintain some qualities. According to Thomas Carlyle, leadership emerges when an entity as "leader" contrives to receive respect from other entities who become "followers". The process of getting deference can become competitive in that the emerging "leader" draws "followers" from the factions of the prior or alternative "leaders". Some studies of leadership have suggested qualities that people often associate with leadership. They include:

• Technical/specific skill at some task at hand
• Charismatic inspiration: attractiveness to others and the ability to leverage this esteem to motivate others
• Preoccupation with a role: a commitment that consumes much of leaders' life service to a cause
• A clear sense of purpose, clear goals, focus, commitment
• Results orientation: directing every action towards a mission prioritizing activities to spend time where results most accrue
• Cooperation: work well with others
• Optimism: very few pessimists become leaders
• Rejection of determinism: belief in one's ability to "make a difference"
• Ability to encourage and nurture those that report to them - delegate in such a way as people will grow
• Role models: leaders may accept a persona that encapsulates their mission and lead by example
• Self-awareness: the capability to "lead" one's own self prior to leading other selves likewise
• With regards to people and to projects, the capability to choose winners: recognizing that, unlike with skills, one cannot (in general) teach attitude. Note that "picking winners" ("choosing winners") carries implications of gamblers' luck as well as of the capacity to take risks, but "true" leaders, like gamblers but unlike "false" leaders, base their decisions on realistic.
• Empathy: Understanding what others say, rather than listening to how they say things.
• Integrity: the integration of outward actions and inner values.