It’s a popular aspiration and what makes a great leader is an even more popular debate. So what are the key skills of a great leader? Being inspirational and able to make bold, tough decisions and take responsibility. Having knowledge and experience, inspiring the respect of your team are correct. But are these inherent skills that you’re born with or are they, as Aristotle would suggest, qualities that you acquire by being a great follower?
Knowledge and experience
Knowledge and experience is hard to achieve from a text book. Working in a role, learning from others, listening and doing a job for yourself is the slow track, perhaps not always trendy way to honing your skills. And that means being a follower.
Humility and obedience
An arrogant leader who doesn’t listen is unlikely to achieve much respect. Accepting mistakes, obeying orders and not needing the spot light to shine on them all the time are the bread and butter of the good follower. Their role is to support and to serve their leader which in turn is a pivotal attribute of a great leader: to respect, to heed and to serve their followers.
Empathy and loyalty
If you’ve lived the life of a follower, you’ll have a heightened sense of empathy for the issues that followers face. You’re more likely to be able to identify with those you lead and just as importantly you may be able to anticipate and relate to issues before they arise, because you’ve been there yourself.
Courage and patience
To follow is sometimes to be brave. It’s not just about following blindly but about an ability to provide constructive, positive input at times when it’s needed. That often requires tact and diplomacy, it may also require patience and sometimes it will demand courage. A better suite of skills for a leader are hard to imagine.
An understanding of the privilege involved
Those who have worked long and hard as a follower to earn their leaderships skills have a greater sense of understanding of the privilege that leadership involves. It’s that sense of privilege which should take preference over a need for authority and brings with it, humility and a desire to serve others as best as you can.
So no, you don’t have to be born with a special set of skills to be a great leader. But you do have to work at it and if you want to be a great leader, you can do a lot worse than by beginning with being a great follower.