What makes a successful leader? Drop that question into your favorite search engine and you’ll find a wide range of responses detailing practical skills to a litany of intangibles. At the core of all those lists, however, are three particular traits that rise to the top over and over. Great leaders are hungry, humble, and human.
Setting a goal and reaching that goal are two different things. One is theory and the other becomes reality. You’ve got to be hungry to reach that finish line.
When your goals require you to stretch beyond your perceived limits, reaching them requires a deep commitment and desire. You’ve got to want it bad enough to push through the challenges and speed bumps. You need to be focused and determined enough to put in the hard work needed to grow beyond where you are today to where you want to be.
Hungry people are passionate about their goal. It’s not that they don’t struggle on their way to the finish line. It’s that they are willing to make the sacrifices and put in the hard work needed to stretch, grow, and succeed. Being hungry and staying hungry requires clarify – know your goals. Understand your why. Map out how you’re going to get there. Evaluate your progress and make adjustments along the way. Purpose and passion will help propel you forward.
Being objective and realistic about your own strengths and weaknesses is key to success. There is no success without a willingness to recognize our mistakes and an openness to learn from them. There’s no moving forward without being able to reach out and ask for help.
Strong leadership requires the ability to see the talent and skills in others. It requires a willingness to delegate to team members and to trust them to do the tasks they’ve taken on, and then an ability to earnestly recognize their contributions to the overall success of the project or organization.
Great leaders are confident, but they aren’t conceited or cocky. They are willing to admit their faults. They ask questions, knowing they don’t already have all the answers. They are open to constructive feedback. They long for growth and development. They adapt as needed. They build teams that can fill in their gaps. They listen more and talk less.
This one seems simple, but in truth, it may take a little more time to dissect. Of course, we’re human. Yet, if you’re still separating out the “work you” and the “at-home you” as two different people, hit pause and focus on this trait more.
If your idea of being good at your job translates to things like robotic precision, stoicism, and long hours of focused production, this trait is one to work on. As a leader, being human means making employee engagement and open, clear communication a priority. It means creating a work culture that allows space for self-care.
As a leader, you get to know your team beyond the tasks they perform. How do they want to grow and advance their career and how can you help them get there? What interests do they have outside of work? Show genuine interest in getting to know who they are beyond what they do for your company.
Being human at work means being flexible with where we work and when we work to make space for life moments. It means recognizing that sometimes people get scared or overwhelmed or stressed, so we provide support resources to help team members manage their emotions. It means offering constructive feedback and praising wins. It means accepting constructive feedback. It means being willing to evaluate our own performance and make adjustments as needed. It means making space to laugh around the proverbial water cooler from time to time.
Being human means embracing the healthy balance of humility and hunger to help ourselves and our team excel.
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