blog Leadership | 5min Read
Published on July 23, 2021
What Does It Take To Be An Effective Leader?
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and more importantly, shows the way. A good leader inspires, provides direction and motivates the people around. They nurture strengths and talents, and provide confidence and courage. Leadership is about vision and responsibility, not just power.
So, What Does It Take To Be An Effective Leader?
Leadership is all about action. It is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Integrity, insight and the ability to inspire comes naturally to leaders. Leaders become great not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower. Coming back to our question: What does it take to be an effective leader? Look at the list below to see the common traits that the most effective leaders have!
1. Decisive
Leaders have a clear vision and a set goal. They have a decisive idea about what they want, how to achieve it and what success looks like. They are inclusive and carry the team along with them. They nurture the strengths and talents of their people and build teams committed to achieving common goals. Work towards your goal with enthusiasm and your team will draw inspiration from you and get equally motivated!
2. Set an example
The best way to gain the respect of others and inspire them to do better is by setting the right examples. Leaders set high standards and live up to them. This inspires the team to be a better version of themselves. Action, more than words, will make your team more inclined to follow your example.
3. Effective Communication
Communication can make the difference between success & failure. The power of effective communication can motivate others to action and inspire new ways of thinking. The ability to communicate clearly, concisely, and tactfully is a crucial leadership skill.
4. Evolve
Learn, improve, implement, learn. Leaders find resources & means to constantly evolve. They use their learning to improve their actions and use the results of their actions as a means of learning. They are constantly learning and evolving.
5. Speed and Accuracy
The ability to make fast, difficult, yet correct decisions rests on the shoulders of a leader. A leader must make the decision with conviction and follow it through. Being a resolute and confident decision-maker will allow you to capitalize on opportunities and earn the respect of your team.
6. Acknowledge Success
Lastly, a leader must realize that success is not final, neither is failure fatal. It is important to acknowledge the success of the team and appreciate the efforts. This boosts morale and motivates the team to give their best. It is equally important to help the team bounce back from a blunder. A leader must view bad experiences as an opportunity for growth. On a leader’s journey to the top, he/she must acquire skills to be able to foresee. The most serious failure of leadership is the failure to foresee.
How Do You Hone Your Leadership Skills?
Often, leadership does not come naturally. While it is true that inherent characteristics and experience are the best teachers, it is still a skill that can be learned, developed and acquired. Enrolling in leadership development programs can especially go a long way in helping with that. There are various leadership development programs in India run by qualified professionals and mentors who can help you define a purpose and educate you to reach your full potential. A good education consultant or counsellor can tap into your potential and push you in the right direction.
Unleash The Leader In You With Harvard YLC Conference
Youth Lead the Change (YLC) is one such leadership development program. The most important thing while developing leadership skills is getting the right experience and YLC is all about that. YLC is a program created by professors of the Harvard Business School, Harvard Law School, and the Harvard School of education, and conducted by Harvard students. Held for students in grades 8 – 12, the program aims at empowering students and unlocking their leadership capabilities as they develop tangible solutions to global problems. Over the 7 day course, the students work in a group to understand a global issue and develop a social change project to address it. Through this program, students learn about core leadership skills such as collaboration, public speaking, time management, and self-knowledge.Â
The Harvard trainers also hold one-on-one sessions with students who continue to serve as mentors after the program. On finishing the program, there is an opportunity to complete mentorship for an entire year, to implement their project. Presented by The Leadership Institute at Harvard College (LIHC), this Harvard student organization aims to provide and promote leadership development opportunities across the world.
Our advice to young students seeking greater leadership skills is to go out there, talk to mentors and build experiences. Find a problem, build a solution that benefits the whole mankind. Leadership can be learned if you have commitment and determination.
Big Red Education and our Ivy Early Entrepreneur Program
In our entrepreneurial workshop – Ivy Early Entrepreneur, students go through the process of business development and leave the entrepreneur program having completed a business model canvas, competitive analysis, financial model, minimum viable product, and a pitch deck.
Students get an opportunity to learn from successful entrepreneurs who are alumni of reputed universities and are experts in their respective industries.
These experts serve as coaches guiding students through the processes of developing a business concept. Risk-Taking, Decision Making, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Communication &
Storytelling, Design Thinking & Innovation, and Opportunity Recognition are a few of the key learning areas of our program.
On successfully completing the entrepreneur workshop, the guaranteed internship will be extended to all the students within our partner firms and with most of the mentors teaching the program. Students will be provided with a certificate of participation by Big Red Education. This certificate can be used for your college portfolio.
Ivy Early Entrepreneur
11th – 17th Jan 2022
Idea Generation | Market Research | Design Thinking | Pitching
