The Top Five Skills of Extraordinary Leaders

Those who become Extraordinary Leaders are those who master the skills of leadership. Followers will follow leaders based on two primary aspects: The Leader’s character and his or her skills. Here are the top five skills an Extraordinary Leader must master. Get on top of these and you will find your influence growing extraordinarily! 1. Good Communicator. Extraordinary Leaders are those who can take the vision they have and communicate it in ways that their followers can easily understand, ...

Those who become Extraordinary Leaders are those who master the
skills of leadership. Followers will follow leaders based on two
primary aspects: The Leader’s character and his or her skills.
Here are the top five skills an Extraordinary Leader must master.
Get on top of these and you will find your influence growing
extraordinarily!

1. Good Communicator. Extraordinary Leaders are those who can
take the vision they have and communicate it in ways that their
followers can easily understand, internal, and own. Then, and
only then, can they carry it out! So focus on speaking and
writing more clearly, and with the passion that you
have for the vision you have. Use different ways of
communicating, including different ways verbally and non
verbally. Above all, communicate often!

2. "Sees" the End Result Long Before Others. I think the greatest
compliment on my leadership skills I ever received came from a
gentleman who told me that “you see things about 6 months before
the rest of us.” Without tooting my own horn (okay, a little bit
maybe…), that is a skill of a leader. They are always looking out
ahead of themselves and their situations. Followers are worried
about what happens today, while leaders are thinking about and
strategizing about what they see for tomorrow. Be constantly
looking ahead. Practice making projections. Get good at “seeing”
the future. When you can do this better than others, they will
look to you for leadership!

3. Ability to Set Strategy and Course of Action. What will you do
to reach the goal? Many people can say where we should go, but it
is the Extraordinary Leader who can lay out a plan for everyone
to get there! Work at laying out a plan for you and your
followers. Remember that there are people with different skill
and passion levels, and take this into account! Get good at this
and when people want to get to their goals in a hurry, they will
call on you to lead!

4. Ability to Teach Others. One of the greatest leadership
development companies in the world has been General Electric.
This is because their CEO, Jack Welch, has always emphasized the
need for current leaders to teach others. He himself spends what
others would consider an extraordinary amount of time in the
classroom teaching. But remember, he is an Extraordinary Leader
and he is developing Extraordinary Leaders to follow behind him.
Work hard at your teaching techniques, and be sure to use as many
situations as possible for the opportunity to teach those who
would follow.

5. Ability to Inspire Others. You may have a great goal, but if
you want to be an Extraordinary Leader, then you will have to put
a little oomph under your followers! This is the ability to
inspire! Work at helping them to see the big picture, the great
end results, and how good it is going to be for them and others.
Above all, make it exciting. If it is a good goal, it should be
exciting. If it isn’t exciting, then dump it and get a goal that
others can get excited about!

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