What Is Leadership?

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.
And her third question is about being courageous and taking risks. Here’s a quote from her TED@BCG talk:
“Great leaders dare to be different. They don’t just talk about risk-taking; they actually do it. And one of the leaders shared with me the fact that the most impactful development comes when you are able to build the emotional stamina to withstand people telling you that your new idea is naïve or reckless or just plain stupid.”

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.