Boss – Qualities or Skills

First of all, I will devote a few lines to the theories on leadership qualities and skills that have been summarized in the documents. According to the studies on leadership qualities and skills by Stogdill (1948 & 1974), the qualities listed are: Ability to adapt well to the situation; Alertness in the social environment; Ambitious, always oriented towards achieving goals; Decisiveness; Cooperation; Trustworthiness; Demonstrating power; Dynamic; Persistence; Self-confidence; Withstand stress; Willingness to take responsibility. The skills of a leader include: Intelligence; Conceptual skills; Creativity; Good diplomacy and tact; Fluency; Understanding of work; Organizational mind (management ability); Persuasiveness; Communication skills. There are 3 groups of leadership skills that have been classified: Professional skills – Communication skills – Cognitive skills. Depending on the position (level) of management, the importance of these skills is ranked at high, low or medium. According to the assessment of the qualities of an effective manager, it is believed that they are: Clear orientation towards efficiency; Strong orientation towards power and social integration; High self-confidence; Strong belief in self-worth; Internal control center. Some other qualities also mentioned include: Emotional intelligence; Social understanding; Systemic thinking; Learning ability.

Below we will delve into the factors belonging to the qualities and skills of a leader that are beyond the theoretical perspectives that we have known.

Passion and the ability to inspire enthusiasm

Passion is a very important factor for a leader. If you lack passion, you will become a “robot” leader, lacking personality and identity. In addition, all great business leaders demonstrate enthusiasm for their work, their company, and their own careers. They have strong beliefs and feelings about a new idea, product, or process, and are able to use their positions to effectively communicate this belief to their employees.

Just like in every person’s career, a business also needs to find its own passion. The late co-founder of the legendary Apple Company, Steve Jobs, once said: “You’ve gotta find what you love!” This, in Jobs’s opinion, is true for both work and life. Because his argument is that most of one’s life revolves around the work one does. If you want to feel truly satisfied in your work, you must believe that you are doing a good job. And if you want to do a good job, you must love it and be passionate about it. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t stop. Turn your heart to all matters, and you will know when you find it.”

Our company Secoin is a manufacturer of unburnt bricks and tiles. The passion for creating Secoin branded brick designs is ingrained in my blood. There are times when I feel like I “eat and sleep” with these bricks and tiles. But these passions of mine cannot be turned into truly effective products if I cannot pass them on to my colleagues. I can spend hours talking and confiding in my colleagues and workers who directly produce from day to day about my ideas and dreams. We debate and ponder together,… And surprisingly, after a while, I realize that the “fire” of passion and those ideas have been “ignited” in my colleagues. And as a result, they have created products that are even more unique than my initial imagination. From the “fire” within me, when I pass on the “fire” to be able to “ignite” more “fires”, my chances of success will become more realistic.

In my personal opinion, a great leader is someone who has a “fire” of enthusiasm in their heart that can spread and “warm” those around them. They can all provide strategic direction, but more importantly, they have the ability to persuade people to work hard for the common goals of the entire company. According to David Glass – former Chairman and CEO of Wal-Mart Retail Group, in terms of strategy, leaders can make big decisions but that does not necessarily help them much unless they are leaders with the ability to inspire. When the company encounters a crisis, which sooner or later will happen to most companies, the ability to lead with enthusiasm and influence will be important to the success or failure of the organization.

To prove the above arguments, I would like to tell a story: Recently, a special poll by Inside United honored Coach Alex Ferguson as the greatest icon of Manchester United Football Club (England). Coach Ferguson currently holds a record of achievements that are very difficult for any coach in the UK to surpass. After 25 years of leading the Old Trafford team, this Scottish man has achieved 12 Premier League titles, 2 Champions League No. 1 positions and dozens of other large and small trophies. “Sir Alex is a hero who is ready to take on any difficulties. He always instills in everyone the belief and spirit to overcome challenges. He is not only a great strategist, a master psychologist, but also a man full of personality.” – Holmes, a Manchester United fan and presenter on Manchester Evening News, said about Sir Alex like that.

Enhance internal and customer communication

Get out of the office regularly and visit departments, factories, stores, and agencies to have more contact with your subordinates. This will help you see and understand how people perform their daily tasks. Take the opportunity to chat and collect real information from employees about the challenges in their work and life.

Create a working atmosphere that encourages people to be dynamic and creative. Fully appreciate the role of techniques to improve the business’s work process, create a cooperative atmosphere, and ensure individual satisfaction with the job. Here are some ways to create a dynamic working atmosphere:

Consult with many people.

Give your subordinates many different options rather than just giving them the best way to solve the job. By doing so, they will learn to see themselves in a direction that is most suitable for the job.

Give positive feedback when employees express their opinions.

Challenge employees to brainstorm, plan and act.

Teach people to accept and learn to overcome risks in their work.

Regarding customers, most leaders are very aware that customers will decide the fate of a company. Therefore, they spend a significant part of their time to contact and talk to customers (some spend up to 50% of their time). Sam Walton – founder and former CEO of Wal-Mart Retail Corporation has a very good comment: “We have only one boss, that is the customer. That boss can fire everyone from the company president down by simply spending money somewhere else.”

Herb Kelleher, founder and CEO of Southwest Airlines (SA), devoted all his efforts to building a community-like culture between customers and employees. He once advised: “Don’t make profit the goal in your relationship with customers. Instead, you need to focus more on serving customers, so that customers are satisfied and continue to come back to the company. That is the key to creating profitability, especially in difficult economic times…”

Effective delegation skills

Leadership theory has mentioned this issue but on a broader level. Here I just want to emphasize this skill because of its importance in business. Leaders must know how to detect talent – people who are able to complement your shortcomings. Instead of knowing how to praise, they should delegate and allocate work reasonably. In addition, leaders need to have special treatment policies for talented people, those who dare to set extremely challenging goals and find ways to achieve them.

In conclusion, I believe that a true leader not only possesses inherent leadership qualities but also cultivates the necessary skills to lead effectively. However, many of us take that lightly and continue to hold the subjective notion that they were born to be leaders. Ask yourself why others need to listen, respect and follow your direction, mobilization and guidance. Therefore, leaders must know what qualities and skills they need to have in order to build and promote them effectively. These qualities and skills directly affect the image of the leader and the foundation of the business’s success.