Recently I was having a conversation with my niece and she mentioned that she wasn’t a leader because she was introverted.
That got me thinking, what really makes a leader? So I looked it up, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary,
Definition of leadership
lead·er·ship | \ ˈlē-dər-ˌship \
1: the office or position of a leader 2: capacity to lead 3: the act or an instance of leading 4: LEADERS
Does that mean that in order to be a leader you have to be loud, outgoing, confident, charismatic, funny, beautiful? Hell no!
There are only 3 things you need to be a leader, period.
Desire to help
The ability to listen
Self-confidence
So how do these 3 skills do that?
Desire to Help - If you don’t want to lead people you won’t make a good leader
The ability to listen - How are you going to get people to follow you if you can’t communicate with them, and how can you communicate if you can’t listen?
Self-Confidence - This is different from confidence, confidence comes from doing something enough times to build competence, whereas if you're leading people to a new place you need to have confidence in yourself to adapt, accept adversity, deal with challenges, get everyone to the finish line.
To be a leader is to be a person who is willing to lead a group and has the ability to get people to follow them.
Leaders can always get shit done, because a leader knows they can create an environment that people want to follow in. They will always have people willing to work, contribute and sacrifice for their shared vision.