Assignment

Conceptual analysis of attributes of

leadership

Submitted to:
Prof. Sajid Javed Akbar

Submitted by:
Humaira Pervaiz
Roll no 13
Sec (A) morning

Hailey college of Commerce

University of the Punjab

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 “Concept of leadership and analysis of its”
attributes

Concept of leadership

Introduction

Good leaders are made not born. If you have the desire and willpower,
you can become an effective leader. Good leaders develop through a
never-ending process of self-study, education, training, and experience.
This guide will help you through that process.
To inspire your people into higher levels of teamwork, there are certain
things you must be, know, and, do. These do not come naturally, but are
acquired through continual work and study. The best leaders are
continually working and studying to improve their leadership skills.

Managers are people who do things right, while leaders are people who
do the right thing. - Warren Bennis, Ph.D. "On Becoming a Leader"

Definition

“A simple definition of leadership is that leadership is the art of

motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.”

Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the
action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the
combination of personality and skills that makes others want to follow
his or her direction.

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 Attributes of leadership
There are many attributes of leadership some of these are as follows;

UNWAVERING COURAGE

Based upon knowledge of self, and of one's occupation. No follower wishes to be

dominated by a leader who lacks self-confidence and courage. No intelligent follower
will be dominated by such a leader very long.

SELF-CONTROL

The man, who cannot control himself, can never control others. Self-control sets a
mighty example for one's followers, which the more intelligent will emulate.

A KEEN SENSE OF JUSTICE

Without a sense of fairness and justice, no leader can command and retain the respect of
his followers.

DEFINITENESS OF DECISION

The man, who wavers in his decisions, shows that he is not sure of himself. He cannot
lead others successfully.

DEFINITENESS OF PLANS

The successful leader must plan his work, and work his plan. A leader who moves by
guesswork, without practical, definite plans, is comparable to a ship without a rudder.
Sooner or later he will land on the rocks.

THE HABIT OF DOING MORE THAN PAID FOR

One of the penalties of leadership is the necessity of willingness, upon the part of the
leader, to do more than the part he requires of his followers.

A PLEASING PERSONALITY

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 No slovenly, careless person can become a successful leader. Leadership calls for
respect. Followers will not respect a leader who does not grade high on all of the factors
of a Pleasing Personality.

SYMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING

The successful leader must be in sympathy with his followers. Moreover, he must
understand them and their problems.

MASTERY OF DETAIL

Successful leadership calls for mastery of details of the leader's position.

WILLINGNESS TO ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY

The successful leader must be willing to assume responsibility for the mistakes and the
shortcomings of his followers. If he tries to shift this responsibility, he will not remain the
leader. If one of his followers makes a mistake, and shows himself incompetent the leader
must consider that it is he who failed.

COOPERATION

The successful leader must understand, and apply the principle of cooperative effort and
be able to induce his followers to do the same. Leadership calls for POWER, and power
calls for COOPERATION.

Set High Standards

Leaders set high standards for themselves and those who follow.

Live Your Standards and Mentor Those Who Follow

Leaders live up to the standards they have set and mentor those who are attempting to
follow them. Many leaders are consistent in demanding of themselves compliance with
the standards that they espouse.

Create and Share a Vision

Every successful leader must instill the vision of where the organization is going and
what is necessary to attain that goal. Without a vision, there is no unity. Effective leaders
are driven by a singular vision, not of what is, but of what is to become and they make
sure that everyone around them understands and buys into that vision.

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Make the Hard Choices When Necessary

Effective leaders are characterized by a willingness to make the hard decisions when
necessary. True leaders, however, recognize that for the organization to
reach the desired goal, there must be total concentration on the chosen solution and
everyone must know that going back is not an option.

Be Visible and Out Front

Leaders, to be respected, must be visible. That is visibly out front. The unseen leader is
the leader not followed. Visibility is critical and fortunately in our age of global
telecommunications, this is easily done. However, being visible and being “out front” are
not necessarily one in the same.

Instill Hope in Those Who Follow

Attribute of successful leaders is their ability to instill hope. None of us can
continue to grow, develop and perform at our highest potential without hope. Hope for
success, hope for recognition and reward and most importantly, hope that indeed we can
make a difference in the long-term outcome. Hope supplies the essential fuel that enables
the human spirit to continue moving forward, especially in the face of severe adversity.

Solidarity

A leader breathes through her group. A true leader knows how to work in group, and
should try to understand the problems of other workers. In sound groups, solidarity
among members is a symmetrical relation. Solidarity is the first step a leader should take
in order to gain the respect and attention of her teammates.

Modesty
A leader exerts leadership almost unconsciously, without giving importance to the whole
leading concept. Leaders don’t show as leaders… they act as leaders. Leaders keep the
participative environment of the group, and always do their work with the idea of
participating in a collective project.

Self-confidence

Leaders know themselves, and exhibit a complete domain over their behavior. Moreover,
leaders know which tasks are at their reach, and don’t set unrealistic goals. This way,
leaders know what their virtues and limits are, and they don’t hide them. Self-confidence
gives the force to be persistent to attain the task and vision.

Initiative

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Leaders are proactive, not reactive. I had a manager that only waited and acted upon
receiving orders from his superiors, strictly following the (frequently wrong) boss’
guidelines. Not only this behavior is inefficient for the business, but it harms the role-
modeling aspect of leaders. Workers and teammates tend to identify with the values of
their superiors, and no company wants this kind of passive attitude to be learned by its
workers.

Creativity

A true leader is always looking for ways to develop her creativity to its maximum. Here,
the vision of the leader is very important. Outstanding leaders articulate:
a working framework congruent with the values of the other members of the group,
efficient and effective ways to completing the assigned task,
and ways to match the sub-activities with the members’ interests and experience.

Passion

The leader never stops learning, and displays a high level of consciousness. Leaders’
actions signal the way for their teammates. Leaders ta of their choices and decisions
without blaming others or looking for lame excuses. Leaders exhibit a passion for their
work, and are faithful to their visions and beliefs. They engage in excellent behavior and
make outstanding self-sacrifices in the interest of their group, if necessary.

Symbolism

For me, this is the most important trait, which projects and summarizes all the other
attributes. The leader is a symbol. This is the agglomerative attribute of leaders.

Positive attitude

A positive attitude goes a long way. Good leaders are always looking for the light at the
end of the tunnel.

Optimism

Optimism is often the best motivational tool when things are looking down. Leaders who
are able to maintain their cool will have a positive effect on the people they need to
motivate when the going gets tough.

Selflessness

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Effective leaders do not appear to be selfish. A leader who is willing to spread the praise
and except responsibility for failures will gain respect. Leaders who do not seek glory,
will often find it.

Concerned with the job at hand

Individuals who seek to impress their superiors are not often the best candidates for
leadership positions. It will be more beneficial for an organization to promote individuals
who are more concerned with the job at hand rather than those who are concerned with
what others think of them.

Commitment

Leaders set the tone in an organization. If the leader is willing to go the extra mile to
accomplish the task at hand, others will follow suit. The opposite is true. If the leadership
is not willing to set personal desires aside when it is necessary to get the job done, others
will not.

Compassion

Leaders must be able to be compassionate towards others. When people do not think that
the organization cares about their personal needs they will not be as productive. Leaders
need to know when to be compassionate. Too much compassion can be seen as weakness
and may cause some resentment. Compassion in moderation breeds loyalty.

Knowledge of the issues

Knowledge of the issues gives you a stand you can defend intelligently. Be bold enough
to carefully examine all sides of an issue.

Civility
Leadership is an issue of civility. It consists of what we do with the power we have, in
connection to relationships in the public sphere.

Competence

A leader should be competent at what others expect of him. People have confidence in
competence. Competence means doing a given task well. Without this, people are
reluctant to follow.

Communicate

Communication plays a big role in leadership. Can a leader get his ideas across to others?
If he cannot, his ideas will not be transmitted.

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Understanding

Having the ability to understand others is very important. If one cannot understand his
subordinates he will be rejected by them. People want and need understanding.

Strong purposes

Good leaders also have strong purposes, they have positive ideals, and they have a sense
of strength. Some may be downright mean, but if their purpose is honest and true people
will still follow.

Be assertive

A leader should be assertive, not aggressive and clearly understand the difference.

Conclusion:

Finally, if leadership is a function - a complex relation between leader and situation - we

ought to be clear that every promising member recruited is not a potential member for top
management. Some people in some organization will become outstanding leaders as
fundraisers, campaigners, moderator etc. Some people in a youth organization will
become outstanding leaders in fundraising or as program facilitators. Many of these
people would not be effective leaders in top management positions of the youth
organization at least under circumstances prevailing in the organization. We should place
high value in such people so as to enable them to the fullest of the potentials in the role
they can fill best. We should also find ways to reward them which thereby persuading
them to consider outstanding leadership at any level is a precious thing References