What Makes A Good Leader?

[BrianT103]

A good leader must first be an excellent follower.

[ExTexan]

What is a great leader?

How do you become a great leader? Is it a gift, or something that can be learned?

Great questions....and if every aspect of a good leader could be defined, or learned, then there would be many more great leaders. Some parts are instinctive, some can be learned and no two great leaders have exactly the same qualities.

That being said there are a few traits that are very common and if you imagine what you look for in a leader, as a follower, then here are a few:

Listening: I want to follow someone who listens to me.
Empathy: I want to follow someone who understands my viewpoint.
Dependability, Integrity, etc.: I want to follow someone who is dependable and I trust and respect.
Communication: A very big one and the above three traits are part of it. In your example, as a follower, if I believe riveting is stronger than welding and tell you so then I want you to listen, understand why I think so and then communicate to me why you think it may not be true in such a fashion that I trust your response.
Be Fair: Not equal, but fair
Enjoy Every Minute: When my "leader" is not upbeat, I am not upbeat.

And probably the most difficult one for many leaders is to let your sub-leaders do things you don't agree with. Question, inspect, advise but let your leaders lead. Real leaders know when not to turn wrenches or write code. A leaders job is to motivate, have a plan, a strategy and keep the group headed in a direction that everyone knows.

Some of these come natural, some are learned and there are many more. But the biggest thing you can do as a leader (and one that very few leaders do) is to GET FEEDBACK. I mean true, honest, good and bad, feedback. It has to be anonymous from most people to be truly honest and you must devise your own methods but if you get that information, and act on it properly, you will learn why you aren't a good leader and become one if you have the ability. So many "leaders" are ineffective, or not as effective as they could be, and have no idea why.

[548swimmer]

I feel that one of the most important skills for a leader to have is the ability to keep everyone working well together. This year we ran in to issues with simple things like sensor mounts. No one told the CAD team that the sensor in question (a gyro I think) was even going to be used until late in the season so no mount was designed. A good leader would make sure everyone knew that sensor needed to be mounted far enough ahead of time so that it could be designed in.

From a mechanical standpoint, I want a leader who will keep things moving. The time to prototype is in the offseason (if you can call it that), not during week 3. The leader needs to decide when to make a call, and then make a call at that time.

In general, a great leader must be humble. Let's say for example that your average mechanical guy was your new build leader. Now, instead of worrying about whether to use a panhead or cap screw he has to coordinate electrical, CAD, programming, and fabrication. A great leader woud, in this instance, admit that he can't program or wire an electrical board and appoint a "cabinet" if you will. While he doesn't necessarily need to be "hands-on" with everything, he should have a general idea about what's going on.