The secret soup of successful leadership

What is that top leaders of the world do, which makes them so successful? Do they have any magic potion? Is there any secret recipe for successful leadership? No one has an answer to these question.

Throughout my career I’ve worked with various successful leaders from time to time. Every time I’ve put this question in front of them, I got different answers. But, the one thing that was common between all of them was that they had the enthusiasm for success, and the rest as they say came with experience.

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After observing the life of many such influential leaders, and learning from their success stories, I’ve compiled a list that can help anyone cook the secret soup of successful leadership. Take a look at it, and see if it works for you as well -

The fire of honesty and integrity

It’s a simple trick - be honest and everything will fall into its place. Leaders who are not honest with their work might be able to get short-term success, but honesty is the one trait of leadership that prevails in the longer run.

Honesty comes into play at every place. From being honest with the team about expectations from them, to reporting their mistakes and success and failure of the projects - you need to be honest. Honesty creates integrity - the team looks up to a leader and follow his/her footsteps.

The broth of clear communication

The relationships in a team are vulnerable. The broth of clear communication is something that keeps everything together and afloat. If you want to be a successful leader, you ought to remove the barriers in communication for the team. Have open channels of communication. So that anyone and everyone in the team can come and share their views.

As they say, the wisest advice comes from the most unexpected resource. But, a few managers pay heed to this fact. A successful leader keeps everything transparent. So that the team knows where are their efforts headed.

The aroma of empathy

Human beings are emotional creatures. As a leader, you need to understand the basic human emotions. Pain when someone fails, sadness when things go wrong, happiness when things go right!

Successful leaders enjoy the success of their team members. But, they are empathetic when things go south. Blaming the team when something wrong happens in the project is like breaking your team. They are never going to trust you again. If you want to be a successful manager,  then you need to take failures with a pinch of salt. Pick the team up when they are down and out, inspire them. Spread the aroma of empathy, and you can even move mountains with ease!

The spice of courage and inspiration

Leadership is all about courage and inspiration. That’s why you have are there  to lead the herd. As a leader you are the person who has to take on some tough projects. That’s when you need to be courageous enough to never back-down.

Inspire the team to collide with the project head on. Being the manager - you know the capabilities of your team member. When they are down and out, come up with ideas to bring them out of their shell and get the best out them. Sometimes all it takes is a few words of motivation and people do the unthinkable! You need to sort the combination to bring that best from your team. And, have the courage to back your decision!

The salt of selflessness to taste

Salt of selflessness is the most important ingredient of the secret soup of successful leadership. That’s the reason why I’ve kept it for the end.

Successful leaders are never selfish. They let the team take the first bite of the victory cake. But, when failures come they are the first person to take the blame before it is burdened on to the team. This is hardest trait to inculcate in one’s personality. But if you are able to add this in your personality, you can go places as a leader.

That was it. Now that you know the ingredients are you ready to cook your soup of successful leadership?

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Vartika Kashyap is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.

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