Leadership has been defined as “the ability to inspire willing action”. Emphasis is placed on the willing. But to understand leadership, we need to delve a little deeper than that.

One thing which experience has proven over and over again down through the ages is that when any group of people are thrown together for any length of time or for any project, a leader will emerge from the group - one to whom they will listen and give their confidence and support.

Their position on the organisation chart or their title alone cannot make a person a genuine leader. They must have certain traits and skills, or they will surely fail. In business, it has been shown again and again that these skills can be learned and the traits can be developed in any individual who is willing to exert an effort based on strong desire and a true hunger for success.

Generally, a leader or teacher does not actually “develop” another person. They encourage and inspire that person to develop themselves from within. Thus, leadership is, in a large sense, self-initiated.

Once we understand and identify the methods and characteristics of admired leaders, we can take steps to develop these skills and traits ourselves. We can analyse ourselves -- honestly, ruthlessly, objectively – and identify which skills we need to acquire or improve (and those which we need to play down).

No One Is Perfect!

The perfect leader has yet to be born. We all have room for self-improvement. If we can agree upon what it takes to be a good leader - what are the traits of leadership, what are the skills - we will at least have made a good start. We should analyse every genuine leader we know and try to learn which qualities influenced us to consider them a good leader. We can probably agree upon at least five - you may have a leader in mind as we consider these.

Qualities of Sales Leadership:

Enthusiasm:

We will all agree that enthusiasm for what one is doing is one of the first traits. No man or woman can install much enthusiasm in anyone else for something about which they themselves are not enthusiastic. Genuine enthusiasm does not mean a glib, backslapping, plastic smile type attitude. More often, the genuine leader’s enthusiasm is likely to be of a more quiet nature - but it is there! It is shown by the manner in which they go about their work. Their manner of handling their job seems to say to everyone. “This is important! It must be done right. It must be fairly and squarely done! And -“You Can Do It!”

Unless a person feels right down in their bones that the work they are doing is worthwhile, they can never consistently (day in and day out) act as though they do. So, if they have any feelings or doubt about the importance of their work and cannot get enthusiastic about it, the trouble is in the person himself or herself. Whether they realise it or not, those around them sense their feelings, their attitude is showing!

Courage:

Leadership takes “guts”. The true leader has the ability to “take it” when the going gets rough. Often the leader has to “take it” for the whole organisation to keep its morale high. The leader has to face up to a new problem all the time. Indeed, many successful leaders invite difficulties just for the sheer joy of coping with them. The genuine leader approaches each day with a sort of “joy of battle”.

Courage in leadership sometimes takes unexpected forms; it may mean standing up to a principle. (Has anyone ever known a real leader who was a “yes person”?) It means having the character to stand up for what you believe in without comprising or cutting corners.

It may mean taking a bold approach to a new idea - sticking your neck out in support of something, which you think is worth trying. It means loyalty to your conviction.

Self Confidence:

An important requirement for the leader of today is self confidence. However, in making decisions about people, their motivations and the way they act or react, the leader can never feel completely sure they are right. The best they can do is to make a sort of “educated guess” based on the facts they can assemble and then depend upon their past experience and knowledge to interpret them.

However, a leader can be self-confident. A great help is to know and work within their personal assets and limitations. They know what they can personally do and what they are unable to do. They are willing to listen to other opinions, assess them and be big enough to adopt the meritorious ones even if they do not square with their original thinking. They can take small reverses in stride.

A self-confident leader is never satisfied with their present accomplishments, does not spend their time in useless longing for things they cannot have. Rather, they set about realising their immediate and realistic goals.

Integrity:

A leader keeps promises. They keep their promises to their associates as meticulously as those made to their superiors. They keep promises made to themselves, which are the hardest to keep and failure in this is the easiest to rationalise. They can keep all these promises because they never commit themselves rashly; but always within the limits of reality and their present capabilities in terms of personal ability. Part of this matter of integrity is certainly, unquestioned loyalty to their organisation - to its reputation as well as their own. Also they must have loyalty to their products and to their associates and loyalty to their industry. Loyalty to one’s associates is extremely important in any leader. They should never allow themselves or others in their group to ridicule, or down grade other leaders or people in the industry, as it is a sign of jealousy and this is one trait that cannot exist in a true leader. Part of this loyalty is a sense of stewardship - a feeling of responsibility for the welfare, progress and security of the industry as a whole, and that includes everybody who ethically runs a business, everyone in their organisation, their customers and their family.