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Guest post by: Riley Cardwell Become an Author

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What makes an effective leader?

Are leaders born or made?

Why are people naturally attracted to some individuals and follow their lead while others have to work hard at coalescing others behind them and in the end are not particularly effective?

And are there secret ingredients that go into making effective leaders? If so, what are they and why are they so important?

In this article, which is one of a two-part series, we’ll cover the first five of ten traits that most all effective leaders exhibit.

Assertiveness – Absolutely essential to being a leader, the ability to be forthright in expressing demands, opinions, feelings, and attitudes is a key component of success.

Assertiveness actually helps leaders in their performance of many tasks and especially in identifying and achieving goals.

To lead, you must be prepared to confront your followers about their mistakes, make legitimate demands, demand higher performance, and always set high expectations of yourself and others.

Enthusiasm – Leaders know enthusiasm is contagious. Others react positively to it almost instantly.

They also know without it, it’s virtually impossible to expect others to follow. Yet enthusiasm is one of the easiest traits to develop in yourself.

People don’t follow leaders who are boring and dull. Moreover, the leader knows he or she must frame his or her vision and mission in an enthusiastic way for others to want to make it their own.

Enthusiasm fully developed is charisma. While genuinely rare, leaders who have transformed themselves into charismatics are able to easily enroll others to “buy in” and follow.

Warmth – Warmth is actually the glue that holds it all together. In fact, without warmth, a leader cannot build the rapport between himself and others that’s critical to leading.

Frankly, warmth is not only wanted and needed by everyone, but it’s one of the key ingredients for emotional support of others that holds the group together. It’s also another important component of charisma.

People expect their leaders to have warmth – don’t disappoint them.

Self-Awareness & Objectivity – Effective leaders have developed the ability to quickly assess the strengths and limitations of themselves and others.

This allows them to capitalize upon strengths, and build up weaknesses to convert them into strengths.

A good leader also recognizes that attempting to change others is not nearly as effective as simply noticing the way others are “wired” and using those already present patterns to achieve success.


High Tolerance For Frustration – Simply stated, the ability to cope with and quickly overcome the inevitable roadblocks that will come.

Others will watch closely how you respond when frustrated.

How you act when things are going well is easy. How you respond when the going gets tough is far more difficult.

Many leaders have lost their followers having failed in this trait.

Other leaders have actually cemented and grown their following by rising to the occasion and showing that in good situations or bad, their ability to stay focused while not become upset and frustrated is strong.

Next, we’ll explore the final five traits of effective leaders and how you can use all ten to lead and inspire others.

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