You are only a leader if people want to follow you. That is a somewhat loaded statement as incentives can encourage anyone to "want to follow you". Just look at the current President of the United States. Politics aside, whether you are organizing a community or leading a Fortune 1000 company, there are certain qualities that individuals exist that give people confidence in their leaders. According to the National Leadership Index for 2009, they are:

  • Trust in what the leaders say
  • Competence to do the job
  • Working for the greater good of society
  • Share my values
  • Get good results
  • In touch with people’s needs and concerns

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    Take these qualities and apply them to your leadership. I have run several people through my head mentally and find these traits to be accurate measures of what my gut reaction would be. For a couple, it's "yes, they are solid". For a few others "yes, they're good, but I'm not quite sure." Finally, for others I'm asking "who put this guy in charge" and they are failing in all of these traits.

    I hope people nod their head when they think of me and say "yes, Mike is solid". I simply see these traits as black and white and, for the most part, things that cannot be learned.