Five Mistakes of Bad Leaders

Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating those who work with me and aiming their efforts at a specific goal. -?Walt Disney

We all wish that we could be great leaders. And with time and practice, we will get there. Eventually, leaders are made, not born. And there are strategies and techniques you can use to improve your skills in that regard. But before you get carried away with being a great leader, it is best to start by not being a lousy leader. Here are five mistakes that bad leaders make and which you should try to avoid.

#1 Blaming Others

Whether blaming management or your staff, blaming others should be off the cards for a leader. Your job is to take responsibility even when it is not your fault. Shifting blame makes you appear weak and keen for approval. And it will damage the trust that others have in you to get stressed. When a deadline is looming and the chips are down, you must stay calm and collected to supply a healthy barometer for your team. They will follow your lead in this regard. So put on a brave face, deep down, even if you are panicking.?

#2 Getting Angry

You will quickly lose their respect if you rant and rave at your staff. And they might even try to “do you in” on purpose. If you need to reprimand a team member, do so calmly and reasonably. And remember, you are their boss, not their mom or dad.

#3 Micromanaging

Micromanaging is sad news—no matter what kind of leader you are. You need to trust your team to let them work independently, as this will be more intrinsically rewarding and motivating. And it will mean you can concentrate on the bigger picture.

Be willing to hand out tasks to different team members and then let them complete them in their way.?

#4 Looking Scruffy Matters as a Leader

Looking scruffy signals that you do not care about what you are doing or are too disorganized to present yourself appropriately. It can hurt your reputation and, as a result, impair your ability to lead if you take care of your team. Then it would help if you showed that you could take care of yourself primarily.

?Top influential leaders to model from, everyone has their unique leadership style.

#5 Be the Authentic You as a Leader

In order to be the best leader that you can be, you need to find your own rather than trying to force yourself into a particular mold. But although this is true, it is also true that you can stand to learn an awful lot by paying close attention to other successful leaders from different industries from history, even from fiction.?

Steve Jobs was not a perfect leader by any stretch; he reportedly got angry and would alienate those he worked with, eventually leading to a coup. You can learn a lot of what not to do from jobs, but there's no denying that he was also a visionary, who had a clearer idea of what he wanted to achieve, and who wouldn't accept anything less than perfection. He had novel ideas and got the best from those who collaborated with him.

That is what you can learn from jobs, the importance of having a vision that you care about deeply and not compromising on your ideals. Just recognize that people have families and might care more about them.

Nelson Mandela is undoubtedly one of history's most significant leaders and a man who managed to change the course of history. You can learn from Mandela from his near poetic speeches to the way he was constantly improving and developing himself. Mandela believed strongly in education and attended six higher education institutes himself.

“Stop learning, and you stop growing; stop growing, and you become stale.” - John F. Kennedy.?

President Kennedy was a great leader but also a controversial one. This is a common trend. He proved the importance of presentation and image and the strength of focusing on the big picture.

Kennedy had an unprecedented ability to think big and was the man who gave the incredible “We choose to go to the moon” speech. Do not be afraid to aim for the stars.?

Winston Churchill. A big part of Churchill's appeal was his character and his charisma. His image, the British Bulldog, made him familiar and likable to the British people when they needed him most. And this proves how embracing your quirks and personality can be a positive thing as a leader. Of course, his rousing speeches did good, as did his willingness to get his own hands dirty. He even spent time on rooftops fire spotting.