Amongst others, Malcom Bird argues that there are three main attributes which effective leaders must develop: 

• the right personal attitudes 
• the ability to motivate others 
• the skills to build and maintain a team 

The start is, however, the right personal attributes. The would-be effective leader starts by taking a good look in the mirror and examining his or her own attitudes. 

The 'right' attitudes are the bedrock of being able to lead well and consistently well at all levels of management and in any field of activity. These are: 

Awareness (put into practice) that people matter and that the effective leader takes people with him or her 

An understanding of the many human characteristics which can inhibit progress and how the resulting obstacles can be overcome 

A willingness to look for and size up the facts avoiding shooting from the hip. This demands the personal discipline to forgo the easy option of taking off-the-cuff decisions in favour of judgement based on 'research' and analysis 

Readiness to make changes. Without change, which can sometimes be painful, progress is impossible. The effective leader like at write my essay for me cheap suppresses his or her own natural reluctance to accept change and will actually initiate it. Then they will follow it through with persistence and patience, accompanied by a willingness to adapt or alter the direction or nature of the change until a successful result is achieved 

Willingness to learn. No matter how experienced or well-qualified a leader may be there is always more to learn. The world changes and new ideas emerge. These new ideas which can sometimes be learned from subordinates are ignored at the leader's peril 

Enthusiasm for the training and development of subordinates. The effective leader will encourage learning in his or her people and create opportunities for them to gain knowledge and skills 

A preference for working in a systematic and ordered way. Disciplined activity will be preferred to chaos and ad hoc actions 

Ability to set objectives and devise plans to meet them as opposed to working day to day on an expediency basis. This requires the discipline to recognise and distinguish between what is urgent and what is important and then to set priorities 

Readiness to face problems and deal with them avoiding the temptation to find the excuse to do something else in the hope that the problems will go away 

Willingness to give up 'technical work' which he or she may be good at and enjoy in favour or managing the human resources, that is, leading the people 

Acceptance that learning and using management techniques appropriate to his or her job will be more successful than an instinctive approach 

What You Have to Be or Become 

It is a fact that some men possess an inbred superiority that gives them a dominating influence over their contemporaries, and marks them out unmistakably for leadership. This phenomenon is as certain as it is mysterious. It is apparent in every association of human beings, in every variety of circumstances and on every plane of culture. In a school among boys, in a college among the students, in a factory, shipyard, or a mine among the workmen, as certainly as in the Church and in the Nation, there are those who, with an assured and unquestioned title, take the leading place, and shape the general conduct. 

So declared an eminent lecturer on leadership before the University of St. Andrews in 1934. Since time immemorial people have sought to understand this natural phenomenon of leadership. What is it that gives a person this influence over his fellows? 

As this lecturer believed, most people thought that leadership was in 'inbred superiority' in other words, you are either born with it or not. The born leader will emerge naturally as the leader because his qualities of mind, spirit and character give him that 'assured and unquestioned title'.