Why Leadership Skills are Important in Life and Business
Let’s look at why leadership skills are important in every part of our everyday life. It’s not something we really think about but having good leadership skills is an important piece of the puzzle in every part of our life. Leadership skills are needed when we are going through challenges and difficulties. They are necessary when we need to solve problems or make decisions.
Leadership skills play a role in how we raise our kids, deal with taking care of elderly parents and how we manage our money. As parents, for instance we want to raise our kids to be confident, well-adjusted adults. In order to do that, we must first have the leadership skills that will inspire them to follow our example.
“Man, often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” – Mahatama Gandhi
How leadership works in different areas of life
“Positivity, confidence, and persistence are key in life, so never give up on yourself.” Khalid
Career. Good leadership skills help you advance your career, go after the career you want and while doing so, inspire others to follow you. Skills like having humility, good communication skills and integrity all go hand in hand in pursuing a satisfying career.
Example: When you take charge of your life and the success you have in it.
Business. Owning your own business or managing a business requires many skills. Those who succeed have good leadership skills. They are taking care of their finances. They hold themselves accountable and take responsibility for their actions. They have good negotiation skills and inspire others.
Example: When others say that it’s not possible or they can’t do it and there are too many problems and you and your team come up with an idea or solution that is leadership.
Parenting. Parenting is not just about bringing a child into the world and hoping they grow up okay. It’s about guiding, leading, inspiring and showing the child the skills such as responsibility, confidence, humility, managing their time and helping others.
Example: When parents take responsibility to prepare food for kids, get kids ready for school and organize the home they are showing leadership skills.
Friendship. Leadership skills in your friendships doesn’t mean everyone always does what you want or say. Instead it means following your own morals and inspiring others to do the right thing. It means not criticizing others for being different from yourself.
Example: When you guide, inspire or lead others to follow and do what is right instead of following the crowd, it is a form of leadership.
Students. Leadership skills are found in the way you participate in sports, clubs, participate in classroom discussions and help others.
Example: When you complete your assignments and your to-do lists each day, it is leadership.
Social: Leadership skills play an important part in your social and environmental life as well. By taking a stand against or for something, finding a solution to a problem that affects many, or by helping those less advantageous as you.
Example: Finding a way to reduce or clean pollution from your area and taking action to do it, is leadership. Another example is like when you provide your seat to an elderly person on the bus.
“I’ve learned to ignore the negative people and just be a living example of confidence and self-love.” Khoudia Diop
Why Leadership Skills are Important: 5 Features of A Good Leader
Before we talk about why leadership skills are important in life, you need to know what makes a good leader. There are many characteristics of a good leader. Here we look at 5 of the top features.
* Strong communication skills. Being an effective communicator is necessary to be a good leader. You need to be able to convey to your team or others what your vision is so they can carry it out. Being able to describe what you want done helps your team efforts in moving forward.
You also need to have an open-door policy where you are accessible to discuss openly what is happening between you and others, your team members or anything going on in your business.
“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” - Bernard Baruch
* Self Confidence. Being self-confident is the foundation in anything, but especially in leadership skills. Leaders have followers and if you doubt your own skills and competence, no one will follow you. People look for leaders who believe in themselves and their abilities.
“Self-confidence is the fundamental basis from which leadership grows. Trying to teach leadership without first building confidence is like building a house on a foundation of sand. It may have a nice coat of paint, but it is ultimately shaky at best.” Francisco Dao, leadership strategist for INC.com
Self-confident leaders possess other skills like decision-making, good communication and courage.
* A Positive Attitude. A positive attitude can be contagious. When you lead with a happy and positive attitude, people tend to work harder and are happier themselves. People don’t want to follow someone who is negative and only sees the problems. Leadership means motivating and inspiring your followers in a positive way.
* Good Decision-making skills. Leaders will be faced with many decisions. Some will be small while others will have an impact on many others. Leaders trust in their decisions and stand by them.
“Trust yourself–you know more than you think you do.” – Benjamin Spock
* Strong Morals. People with strong morals have good leadership abilities. They are accountable for their actions, have humility and honest integrity. Moral leaders are more likeable and will have more followers because of it. They don’t make excuses, lie or brag about what they have accomplished.
Moral leaders share the spotlight of their successes with those who helped them. They are honest and follow through on what they say they will do. They have courage and face their fears. To be a leader with strong morals repeat the affirmation of I gain power when I share power with others. And put it into practice. Now that you know more about why leadership skills are important, you may want to read my response to the question: Can Anyone Become a Leader?
“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain
I’m author, publisher, and entrepreneur Connie Ragen Green and would love to connect with you. If you are new to the world of online entrepreneurship please check out my comprehensive training on how to set up Funnels That Click and learn how to gain an unfair advantage when it comes to building a lucrative online business.