Leadership is a quality which cannot be acquired by any person from the other but it can be acquired by self-determination of a person. Leadership can best be called the personality of the very highest ability-whether in ruling, thinking, imagining, innovation, warring, or religious influencing.
Introduction
Leadership is a quality hidden in the personality of a human being. Human personality is very complex and it is very difficult to grade individuals according to one’s personality. Leadership, on the other hand, depends on the organic structure of the personality which includes experience, skill, responsibility, intelligence, power of organizing people and social interaction. Leadership is an indispensable activity, which every leader has tap perform for directing the people, working under him. It is the ability of the Leader to induce subordinates to work with confidence and zeal. In other words “Leadership is the process by which an leader imaginatively directs, guides and influence the work of others in choosing and attaining specified goals by mediating between the individuals and the organisation in such as manner, that both will obtain maximum satisfaction.
Mental Strength
Some people have a misconception that only those people who are physically strong can become good leaders, but this is not the fact. A leader may not be physically strong but he needs to be mentally strong and firm in decisions. For example, Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation was the greatest leader but he was active and had a firm desire to serve the Nation. He had the power of organizing and uniting people and attracting people towards him by his speeches. This is the best quality of a leader which he had in him. We can also say that, a person who can satisfy the basic psychological needs of his followers can also be an effective leader.
Leadership is a quality which cannot be acquired by any person from the other but it can be acquired by self-determination of a person. Leadership can best be called the personality of the very highest ability-whether in ruling, thinking, imagining, innovation, warring, or religious influencing.
Leadership classification
Leader can be classified according to their work. For example, those who are related to politics are the political leader, those officers who are related to the profession of Army or Police are the leaders of their respective fields. In fact leadership is the most important quality required in a political leader and equally in Army and Police Officers because the future and security of the county lies in their hands, so they should properly use their power and be always attentive so that any enemies whether within or from outside country can not cause any harm or damage to the Nation.
Intelligence and Alertness
The most important quality which a leader should possess is intelligence and alertness. A leader has to use his/her brain every time and also has to remain alert with eyes and ears open otherwise he/she could easily be carried by any fraud or enemy. Many a times we see such situations around us, where a person in trouble or problem doesn’t hesitate in blaming and embarrassing even his closest friend to save himself, and also does not bother about his friends at all because the person has to get rid of his problems anyhow. So, he just thinks about himself and his life, the life of other does not matter to him much. Almost all of us are having one or more such close friends, so a leader should always keep in mind that he should not trust even his closest friends more than required as it can create problems for him.
At the time of war, an Army Officer who leads his soldiers as to apply his brain every second and has to be attentive while marching ahead. A Police Officer has to be attentive always while he is at work as his duty is to control crime and provide safety to the people. The political leader of a county should be most intelligent as the security of not only few people but of the whole nation depends in him in one way or the other. Therefore, we can say intelligence and alertness are the indispensable qualities of a leader. As for example, one of the greatest leader of his time, Winston Churchill could win the Second World War just by applying his brain and his alertness.
Action Oriented approach
The other qualities of a leader include impartiality,action-oriented approach and positive attitude. A good leader should always be impartial towards all his followers, because the moment he becomes partial, he no longer remains a leader as he loses the confidence of others. The duty of a leader is to encourage and raise the standard of all his followers and not just a few of them, and he should always remember his duty.
Further, a leader should be action-oriented. A single leader cannot do every work by himself, so he needs help of others for doing all his constructive works. A leader should be effective enough towards himself and encourages everyone through his words to do constructive work while walking on a right path so that everyone in this country can become aware of his/her rights as well as duties and can provide his/her help in the development of the country. In our country, the constitution has given us the right of democracy through which everyone whether a beggar or the President has been given the right to choose a leader. Everyone wants his leader to be effective, intelligent, active, and action-oriented who can encourages the masses and do the needful for his people and his area. Some of the great action-oriented leaders were Winston Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subash Chandra Bose, Indira Gandhi,Abraham Lincoln who succeeded in attracting the masses towards themselves through their speeches and encouraging people to work for their county and thus they succeeded in registering their name in history forever. Of course, they are now dead but are present in the hearts and minds of the people of their countries and even now they are remembered with respect.
Optimist perspective
A leader should also be an optimist having a positive attitude. he should not think negatively or plan something showing negative attitude. A person who thinks or plans something’s showing his negative attitude never be a Leader. A leader should always be courageous. He should have courage to face the troubles or problems and solving the problems by himself in place of blaming and embarrassing others. Cowards, who at the time of facing problems or troubles in their life try to blame and embarrass others can never succeed in their life. Such person remain at the same place where they stood in the beginning. To gain height and achieve something, one should come out of cowardness, jealousy and should become innovative, courageous, action-oriented and optimist. A good leader has all these qualities in him.
To elaborate further the qualities of a good leader there are three theories of leadership and these are (a) trait theory (b) behavioral theory and (c) situation theory. The first approach (trait theory) views leadership as a conglomeration of a set of personality traits. The older tradition in these studies of leadership has been the search for a cluster of traits, attributes or other types of individual difference, which see leaders apart from their followers or which distinguish effective leaders from ineffective ones. A good leader, as it found more often, is a good teacher. Instead of bossing his followers or group members – a good leader always helps them through experience that brings a changed mind and motive.
Conclusion
Finally, a good leader must be faithful to his group members and activities. This in turn, will result in an atmosphere of assurance among the followers. Having faith in self abilities and the world around him/her the leader gains inspiration and also inspires others in the process.
