What is leadership? What are the qualities and characteristics of a great leader? Can anyone be a good leader?

3. Risk-taking, but not reckless
Because leaders have conviction around some idea or some insight into how the world works, they’re willing to make bets on that.
In her TED talk, Rosalinde Torres, a leadership expert from the management consulting firm BCG, talks about leadership in the 21st century as being defined by three questions, distilled from a study of 4,000 companies and her 25 years of experience.

4. Ability to influence others
Leaders need to be able to influence other people through authentic and transparent communication. This is why many organizations today are engaging leadership in workplace communications, and making it an important part of their corporate communications strategy.
Leaders should be the role models and continuously encourage others to live by the core company values and align with the ultimate business goals.

5. Building trust and transparency
Building trust and driving transparency is one of the most important leadership characteristics. Today, employees expect their leaders to be trustworthy and share all the important information and company updates.Instead of hiding information and leaving employees in the dark, a great leader should openly communicate about everything that is going on in their organization.
By giving visibility to your followers, they will buy into your mission and vision, and they will support you with conviction in achieving the goal. Most importantly, transparency and openness give your followers clarity, and make them feel more empowered while keeping them engaged.

6. Understanding multi-generational workplace
Great leaders have a very good understanding of the generational differences among employees in their organizations.
Yet, only 6% of organizations strongly agree that their leaders are equipped to lead a multigenerational workforce effectively. This shocking statistic shows that leaders have a long way to go in understanding, supporting and managing organizations with various generations.
Research shows that leaders and managers are accountable for 70% of employee motivation and happiness. Therefore, one of the greatest characteristics of a great leader is the ability to motivate and empower employees no matter their age.
On the other hand, even though 3 in 4 employees see effective communication as the number one leadership attribute, less than 1 in 3 employees feel like their leaders communicate efficiently.