Leadership Skills are easy to read about but hard to use. Rich people use them all of the time, but for some reason, most of us miss the success boat.
Part of the reason is most people don’t think they will work.
Hey, Bunky, there’s a reason why successful people use leadership skills every day.
Let’s take a look at what a few famous leaders say about having these skills.
“Integrity Is The Most Valuable And Respected Quality Of Leadership. Always Keep Your Word.” – Brian Tracy
“Ninety percent of leadership is the ability to communicate something people want.” – Dianne Feinstein, U.S. Senator
“Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a certain goal.” – Walt Disney
“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.” – Dolly Parton
But what leadership skills are the most important?
In this post, I’m going to hand you the most important leadership skills that rich people use consistently.
The best part?
I’m going to tell you where you can learn these leadership skills for just about nothing.
Let’s get moving…
Leadership Skills #1: Being Positive
How many times have you done this?
You’re working on a business or a task and It’s just not happening…yet.
So, you start listening to friends and relatives and they tell you to do something else because they knew it wouldn’t work. The next thing you know, you’re getting depressed.
Now you’re telling yourself and everyone around you that life sucks. Your “friends” are reinforcing your belief and you all decide to have a negativity party together.
Sound familiar?
So how do you overcome this dark cloud of negativity?
Dump Your Loser Friends
There I said it.
When I was a kid, I was deep into Marvel Comics. In one issue of the Avengers, the superhero team came across an entity called “The Super Adaptoid”.
Anyway, this creature would absorb the superpowers of anyone standing next to him. So, the avengers unwittingly stood around him not knowing he was absorbing all of their powers.
I guess you can imagine the carnage which was to ensue in this issue.
Now let’s think about this in reverse.
What if the Super Adaptoid sucked up a bunch of negativity, depression, and other bad habits from hanging around a bunch of losers?
He would have had his ass handed to him, that’s what.
Well, this happens every day in real life and if you’re not careful it, could train wreck your business or career.
If you find that someone is influencing you in a bad way, you need to get away from them.
The solution to this is simple.
Find highly successful people and start networking with them.
A super easy and free way to do this is to get on LinkedIn and find successful mentors.
All you have to do is take a look at someone’s profile to see what they’re really about. If you see a rather impressive profile with a string of successes, you can make a connection.
But don’t just stop there, if your target is someone who is successful in your niche, it’s not very hard to ask them a few questions. I have found that many people will respond to you if you’re considerate and aren’t a constant pest.
If you can somehow help these people out with their business you can easily get some help from them. The other thing you need to keep in mind is that if you don’t ask, you won’t receive it.
I’m not saying you should ask them for money, but I’m sure if you asked them for advice they’d be happy to give it to you.
Leadership Skills #2 Taking Action
One of the first battles Alexander the Great of Macedonia had against the Persians was at the battle of the Granicus River.
His top commander, Parmenion, wanted to cross the river and attack the Persian army on the other side the next day. However, Alexander wanted to attack immediately.
A big argument between Alexander and his leaders ensued. These types of heated debates between Alexander and his commanders were not uncommon and Alexander sometimes got rather impatient with them.
In this particular battle, while his generals were arguing and debating back and forth, Alexander quietly mounted his horse, gathered his companion cavalry, and started his attack across the river.
Panicked, his officers quickly grabbed their troops and followed.
This surprise was so unexpected by the enemy, that it gave the young leader an almost unfair advantage against the Persians.
Because of his extreme bravery and leadership skills, Alexander’s forces experienced a stunning victory over their opponents.
The Clear Advantages of Taking Action
A lot of people waste time thinking too much about what they should do.
Like Alexander’s commander, Parmenion, thinking too much can cost you vital resources and time. Planning and scheming can easily turn into long-term procrastination.
Alexander knew that if he had tarried on his attack, the Persians would have the time to assess his forces and reconfigure their defenses. Also, it may have bought the Persians enough time to acquire more reinforcements.
When you think about it, you’re never really 100% ready to attack your problem. In business and life, there is never any real assurance of victory or success.
Considering how short life is, it would be wiser to make an attempt, fail, and then give it another shot. You may fail, but your next attempts will fare far better with experience behind them.
We have all heard since our childhood that experience is the best teacher.
If you feel a certain degree of fear before you take action, do it anyway.
Once you’ve taken the step and faced the fear it will be easier each time to take action.
An old Greek saying is, “fortune favors the bold”.
Grab this idea and run with it.
Leadership Skills #3 Leading by Example
History’s greatest leaders rarely led from the rear of the battle. Let’s take a look at a few of them and their leadership styles.
Alexander the Great – Was usually the first man into battle. Incredibly brave, he wore a special helmet which made him extremely noticeable on the battlefield.
Napoleon Bonaparte – Lead forces across the battlefield many times. At one point, he walked alone across the field, pulled back his coat and asked the opposing forces, “Soldiers, “if there is one among you who wants to kill his general, his Emperor, here I am.” After this, they all cheered him and joined his side.
George Washington – There were many times Washington led charges against the enemy. Once during the Revolutionary war, Washington tried to lead his men into battle against the seasoned British soldiers. They all fled and left him alone on the field. Washington sat depressed and dumbfounded at the chore of trying to lead men who were terrified. Fortunately, a soldier grabbed the reins of his horse and led him away before the British could kill him.
Mahatma Gandhi – Many times Gandhi lead protests against the British in India. These were violent and dangerous affairs, where Gandhi was severely beaten by the British military. Because of this, the Indian people became more galvanized behind their brave leader, eventually forcing the British to leave their country.
Dr. Martin Luther King – Dr. King in his quest to end segregation was assaulted on at least 4 occasions and arrested 52 times. His unwavering ability to lead from the front changed the standards for equality around the world.
How to Acquire the Skills Needed to Lead by Example
Get in Shape
It’s hard to lead from the front if you’re out of shape and overweight. Leadership requires that you have high levels of energy to accomplish your mission.
If you’re a business leader, nothing will instill confidence in yourself or your team than being in excellent condition. The remedy for this is simple: start an exercise plan and stick to it.
Another thing you can start doing immediately is putting yourself on a healthy diet. It’s not rocket science, just make sure you’re eating foods that have a lot of nutrients. If you’re burning more calories than you are taking in you’ll always be able to lose weight and maintain it.
Learn Your Craft
The best scenario for your life and career is to eat, sleep, and breathe your trade every single day. If you’re going to be the expert in your tribe and lead from the front, you’ll have to ramp up your game.
You not only have a responsibility to your family, but also your subordinates at work. They are relying on your expertise to lead them and help them become more successful in their jobs.
The fix for this is pretty simple; keep upgrading your skills and education whenever you can.
Take more classes and read up on your craft daily. Whenever the opportunity arises, take on more opportunities to perfect your skills and help others. You can read all the books in the world but until you put that knowledge into action, you really won’t get better at it.
Learn to Listen
You can’t assume that you know everything. As a matter of fact, you’ll get more respect if you admit occasionally that you don’t know everything. This will give your team the chance to participate in moving things along.
Nobody wants to play basketball with a ball-hog. You need to give your team players a chance to spread their wings and use their expertise as well.
Think about it for a minute. Would you rather monitor the work performed by your team or would it be easier to constantly give them input every time something needed to be done?
The way to implement this immediately is by giving your subordinates more responsibilities. Then all you have to do is practice monitoring and giving them feedback if and when it’s needed.
Leadership Skills #4 Learn to Embrace Salesmanship
It’s no accident that 90% of the CEO’s on the planet cut their teeth on sales. Sales skills are so important that it’s impossible to believe someone would go into business without them.
For one thing, sales can help you convince people that your ideas make sense.
If you have to face a crowd of investors, you need to be able to sell your service, project, or product to them. Not only that, you’ll sometimes have to sell ideas and strategies to your employees.
The ability to sell is the ability to communicate. And by being a consummate salesperson you’ll have the ability to relate your ideas and strategies.
You’ll have the skills to reel in investors, land clients, and influence your team to act on your ideas.
Top Sales Skills You Need to Master
Negotiating
Not only will you be making deals with your clients and customers, but you’ll also be navigating vendors and suppliers.
You can save a company hundreds of thousands of dollars if your negotiating skills are well-honed.
You need to learn the skills of being able to evaluate and negotiate deals if you’re going to win the game.
Sales leadership skills are important in negotiating because you learn the art of thinking calmly under pressure. You get so used to rejection and navigating different situations that you start becoming emotionally detached from what you’re doing.
Persistence and Self-Discipline
Self-discipline is the ability to make your self go through the paces, and persistence is how you make sure you keep at it. These two leadership skills are probably the most important in the world of sales.
There’s a lot of talk by speakers which tell you that you need to stay motivated. However, motivation is driven by pure emotion.
Persistence and self-discipline move way beyond that.
The reason for this is because there will be days when you will not feel like picking up the phone and making those calls. The emotion just won’t be there.
How many times have you gone to a motivational rally or seminar only to find that the next day, you and your team are just, “not feeling it”?
Emotions are temporary chemical reactions in your mind and body to get you through different situations.
Persistence is forcing yourself to have the self-discipline to do what you need to every day whether you want to do it or not.
The leadership skills of self-discipline and persistence can give you long term benefits in your career and life.
Here are a few of them:
- Self-confidence
- Logical thinking skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Self-control
- Resilience in the face of failure
- Patience
Leadership Skills #5 Communication
Probably the most important leadership skill that rich people use is knowing how to communicate.
The reason for this is simple, you have to transfer what you’re thinking into the hearts and minds of those you are leading.
For example, if you’re running a software company or a product that is complex, you must know how to clearly and concisely communicate with others. You are collaborating and sharing complex ideas with different people.
However, communication isn’t just your mouth moving, but it’s your ears listening too. There is an art to listening to what your team is telling you and this requires patience.
This skill is so important that you’ll need to bring your crew up to speed on it too.
You’ll need to teach your subordinates how to listen and speak clearly because you will need feedback from them.
Billionaire Warren Buffet considers communication skills to be the most important leadership ability of all.
“If you want to get ahead – focus on your communication skills,” Buffett says.
Become a constant learner. Take communications classes, join Toastmasters, read as many books as you can on the subject.
Another good idea is to find someone you know who has mastered the art and get them to mentor you. Having a good mentor will propel your abilities very quickly because you’ll get immediate feedback on where you’re going wrong.
Practice your communications skills every day focusing on these key leadership skills:
- Simplify your messages
- Use straightforward language
- Keep your communications short and sweet
- Don’t respond immediately – think first
- Use proper body language
- Notice your listener’s body language (are they getting the message?)
- Be patient and listen
- Maintain eye contact
- Be professional at all times
- Practice in front of crowds to overcome fear
I’d really like to emphasize that last bullet point.
If you learn to speak in front of crowds, you’ll overcome your fear of speaking in front of people. The reason why you’re getting sweaty palms in front of an audience is that you’re not doing it enough.
This is just like making sales calls or performing on an instrument in front of people. The more you do it, the better you’ll get.
And after a while, guess what?
It actually becomes fun!
Conclusion
OK, troops, I think your brains are full now.
Before I go, I want to make sure that you don’t make “the big mistake”.
“What is this big mistake?” you ask?
The big mistake is when you read tons of great advice and never put it into action.
You’ll never run out of sources of information in today’s internet world, that’s for sure. I know for a fact there are lots of people who read, study, and digest but never act on what they’ve learned.
But the best way to learn leadership skills that rich people use is to actually experience what you’ve learned.
So, my advice to you is to read about these skills and then start implementing them immediately.
Yeah, you’ll fall flat on your face a few times – but don’t let that stop you. Keep on learning and implementing and you’ll be an expert in no time.
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