Last week I was meeting with a group of 15 leaders from Velocity and I asked them to finish the sentence, “I believe in leaders who…” I thought I’d share the list of characteristics they came up with.

I believe in leaders who…

• Listen
• Don’t ask people to do things they aren’t willing to do themselves (leads by example)
• Value people on the team
• Give constructive criticism
• Help you grow
• Are Approachable…
• Kind
• Patient
• Reliable
• Genuine
• Involved
• Open to ideas
• Balanced
• Courageous
• Consistent
• Creative

I’m sure there’s many more things we could have come up with, but this was our list. Reading a list of leadership characteristics like this can feel intimidating. The greater our list grew, the more insecure many of us in the room felt as leaders, realizing how many characteristics we need to work on.

Developing ourselves as leaders is a lifelong journey, but this list is a great place to start. Is there one you feel is your weakest? Strongest? Choose one characteristic to begin developing in your life this week.  

What characteristics do you value in a leader? 

This is what sometimes happens at our leader’s meetings:

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