The Dirty Little Secrets of Successful Leadership

Every game has its rules. To come on top of the game, you need to become well-versed with those rules. Being a leader for all these years I’ve managed to acquire a little knowledge about the secrets of leadership.

In this post, I’m going to talk about those dirty little secrets of leadership that no one likes to talk about.

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Accept yourself before the world does

Leadership is not a title or a position, it is action and example. — Unknown

Don’t expect the world to look at you as a leader, unless you feel the same for yourself. The biggest asset of a leader is self-reliance, and if you have doubt in your capabilities then leadership is not the game for you. No matter how skillful you are, if you doubt your power as a leader, you are giving power to your doubt.

The strongest factor that determines success is self-esteem. To start your leadership journey inculcate these traits in your personality along with self-assurance -

• Confidence
• Clear thought process
• Gratitude
• Team building skills

Once you will adopt these four major skills in your personality, you will climb the ladder of leadership earlier than others.

You cannot always be right, or the best

Great leaders are not the ones who are always right or the best at what they do. They are the ones who know how to bring the best out of themselves, and other people when it matters the most. From outside it might look that great leaders like Bill Gates, Warren Buffet and Richard Branson always make the right decision. But, in reality, they do make mistakes but what differentiates them from others is that they learn from them and make more informed choices in future.

As Richard Branson says, ”Don’t be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and start again.” Others might say that great leaders cannot fail or they always make the right decision, but the reality is that great leaders know how to make peace with them and turn them into their success stories.

Your best employees will leave you

No one is going to stick with you to fulfill your entrepreneurship aspirations forever, but yourself. The sooner you realize it, the better it is. You might have poured your heart and soul into building a great team and to bring the best out of your employees.

But, a time will come when even your best employee — the one you have high hopes from, is going to leave you. You have to accept the reality that leadership comes with its fair share of challenges. And, coping up with such situations is the biggest challenge that a leader has to face. If you can embrace it, it will be great for your future as a leader. Accept these things with an open mind. After all, at the end of the day it is a personal choice — you cannot force anyone to be with you when they have some other plans in life.

Doing the right thing won’t be easy

There will be times when you will have to be harsh, brashy and critical of other people’s performance. That’s when the true test of a leader’s mettle comes across.

A leader has to be unbiased when it comes to making the right decision. You might have to lay someone off, or take some harsh decisions that others might not agree with, but you have to do what’s right for the business.

This is the time when you would come to a realization that leadership is not easy. In fact, it is the toughest job in the world. You have to deal with people, situations, success and failures with equal calmness and composure. And, this is what makes leadership such a huge challenge!

It will be a thankless job

Leadership does not come with a thank you note. In fact, at times it is a thankless job. When things go right, it is the credibility of a team. But, when things don’t go right, he is the first person answerable.

It is the responsibility of a leader to make sure the team gets the first taste of success. But, when failures knock at the door you need to guard your team and be the first man to whither the storm. That’s how you make a strong team!

Leadership is not for the faint hearted!

In the end, all I have learned from my journey as a leader for all these years is that leadership is not a game for the faint hearted. It requires courage, conviction, skill, adaptability and most important of all — people skills.

Whether you have to lead a team of 2, 20, 200 or 2000, these dirty little secrets of leadership are going to be your passport to success. The sooner you start adopting these traits, the better it is for you and your journey as a leader!

Originally Published on Medium

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Oh! Did I tell you how I’ve started finding humor in the crazy and typical workplace around me?

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About Author:

Sandeep Kashyap is the Founder and CEO of ProofHub — a leading project management and collaboration software. He’s one person always on a lookout for innovative ideas about filling the communication gap between groups, teams, and organizations. You’ll find him saying, “Let’s go!” instead of “Go!” many times a day. That’s what makes him write about leadership in a way people are inspired to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.

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