Characteristics of Good Leadership - Essay Example

No: Characteristics of Good Leadership: Introduction: There are number of examples of Good Leadership around the world which contributed a lot toward progress of their country and for the betterment of their people. Amongst such personalities, the name of African Leader Dr. John Atta Mills is prominent who by virtue of his reforms made Ghana the third fastest growing economy of the world (Mills np). Quality of Good Leadership: Good leaders must have the capability and the capacity to transform his vision into reality. The leader should have the quality to influence other people to willingly follow the ideas. Every organization, whether it is big or small, has leader who provides road map to his subordinates for achieving the desired goal. A leader should have a clear vision in his mind about where he is standing right now and how far he has to go to pursue his dreams. He must have the quality to translate his vision into solid form. Without having a clear picture in his mind one cannot achieve the desired goal. Only vision is not sufficient to get the job done. The leader should form a team of experts who will deliver. The erstwhile chairman of General Electric Company has very rightly pointed out that "Good leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion." Therefore, the leader must be able to translate his vision that prompted his team to put in hard work to complete the task efficiently. The leader should be disciplined, hard working and has the burning desire to pursue his dreams. Action can be termed as the focal point of a leader. A good leader always puts in efforts in pursuance of his vision and influences others to do with the same zeal and enthusiasm. Integrity: It requires that a good leadership should not be a hypocrite. He should be the same in words and in action. Honest in dealings with others. Control his emotions at the time of anger. Dedication: A good leadership should utilize best of his abilities to make his dreams come true. He should inspire by others through his deeds. Magnanimity: A true leadership gives the credit where the credit is due. He takes the ownership of good or bad actions. He cannot be absolved himself from any failure. As a team leader, he passes on the bucket of fruits of success to his team mates and takes the blame of any of his follies. Humility: He treats himself at par with other fellow citizens. He believes in that only good deeds can make them popular amongst the people. In this respect, we may quote here the name of Asian Leader, Mahatma Gandhi. Openness: He should be good listener as far as the ideas of others are concerned. He has every right to accept the ideas or reject it but with cogent reasons. The openness policy surely opens the doors of mutual trust and respect between the leaders and the followers.   Creativity: Creation is the attitude of thinking differently from other people. The leader should be able to see the scenario at different angles where others are unable to reach. Fairness: The decision of good leadership should be based on clear term. There should not be any ambiguity in his decision that confuses the minds of the others.   Assertiveness: A good leader should be clear in his statement in order to avoid any misunderstanding. He should be firm in achieving the desired results. According to survey conducted by the Americans Psychological Association, the most common weaknesses found in the inspiring leaders were over assertiveness and under assertiveness Sense of humor: A good leadership must have the quality of good sense of humor to attract the attention of his listeners to change their mood.   Proper traits: A true leadership must have a pleasing personality, intelligent, be hard working and have the qualities to deliver. The mentioned qualities can be cultivated by way of proper leadership traits with the passage of time. Achievements of President: In order to examine the quality of a good leader, it is necessary to highlight his achievements that have helped the country to create a niche in the comity of nations. There is no difference of opinion that sound economic policies of the present regime heading by the said incumbent have put the economy on the right track. Remarkable reduction in inflation rates. Continuous rise in the forex reserves. Currency stability shows confidence of the investors in economic policies. The current status shows constant performance at macro level. Improve Revenue Collection System. Domestic Financing is restricted to the policy of Central Bank. Meet Convergence Criterion set by West African Monetary Union. Stoppage of misappropriation of funds. Increase in inflow of foreign direct investments. Increase in Capitation Grant by 50% per child. Free uniforms to each and every school going children. Therefore, no child should be deprived of basic education. This has supported in boosting the local textile industries. Free Exercise Books to school going children. This has helped in boosting local printing industries. School Feeding Programme has enabled the government to establish more schools. Governmental financial support to the teachers for the pursuance of further studies. Replacing of schools housed under the trees with modern infrastructure. To enhance the learning of science and technology government has re-established the collapsed Science Centers. Put in infrastructure development plan for quality education. Cost effective measures to cut down non productive expenses and right size the number of ineffective head counts. To strengthen the economy, government has focused on the enhancement of agriculture production and industrialization to utilize its human capital. To encourage cultivators, government has improved Cocoa price twice in the year 2010 which is the highest payment in the history of Ghana since inception. By watching two videos that referred to the steps taken by his excellency as a good leader in boosting the economy of Ghana are remarkable that led Ghana to the fastest growing economy of the African World. Let us look at this: a) introduce solid infrastructure in the arena of education, power generation, communication, roads, oil and gas, gold mines and agriculture for the economic development b) increase confidence of foreign investors to bring in foreign investments in oil & gas, gold mines and cocoa sectors c) invest to train quality human resource to effectively run private and public sector organizations d) provide job opportunities to unemployed youths e) limited discretionary powers to bureaucrats since the Excellency believes that “ Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” f) effective enforcement of rule of law and justice in the country which is the first and foremost requirement for local and foreign investment g) improve standards of living for the masses. Conclusion: The brief study of the role played by the Ghanaian President, Mr. John Atta Mills, indicates that had he not taken the cited steps, the economy of Ghana would not budge an inch towards progress and the prosperity. The leaders who do not have the mentioned qualities can be termed as failed Head of State. Works Cited Mills, John Atta. “A personal interview with the John Atta Mills when he visited South Africa: Talked about economic conditions.” Part 1. August, 31 2011. Web http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15O774VrJcA Mills, John Atta. “A personal interview with the John Atta Mills when he visited South Africa: Talked about to continue to make democratic strides and appealed for foreign investments.” Part 2. August, 31 2011. Web http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQz1z0WahE8&feature=related Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson. “A personal interview with the Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Africa: Talked about economic.” May, 25 2010. 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