The most important quality of leadership, the one quality for which you want to be known, is extraordinary performance with the goal of achieving extraordinary results—results that then serve as an inspiration to others to perform at equally exceptional levels.
Related: If You Want to Change Your Results, You Have to Change Your Thinking First
We ascribe leadership to those people who we feel can most enable us to achieve important goals or objectives—people with these charismatic qualities:
1. They earn respect.
We develop great perceptions of those people we can count on to help us achieve what is important to us. People who work hard develop influence in the minds and hearts of their co-workers and superiors, and they are spoken about in the most positive way.
2. They have the halo effect.
Leaders who develop high-performing companies or departments develop what is called the “halo effect.” They are perceived by others to be leaders who are capable of great things. Their shortcomings are often overlooked, while their strong points are emphasized. They become charismatic.
3. They accept themselves.
Leaders develop charisma by working on themselves. They learn to like and accept themselves unconditionally. They do and say the specific things that develop within them a powerful, charismatic personality.
4. They are determined and purposeful.
When leaders set clear goals and become determined and purposeful, backing those goals with unshakable self-confidence, they develop charisma. They are enthusiastic and excited about what they’re doing. They are totally committed to achieving something worthwhile. They radiate charisma.
5. They accept complete responsibility.
When leaders take complete responsibility and accept ownership, without making excuses or blaming others, they have a sense of control that is the foundation of charisma. They have the kind of external image that others admire. They develop their character by setting high standards and then disciplining themselves to live consistently within the highest principles. They become the kind of person who is admired and respected everywhere. They become the kind of person who radiates charisma to others.
6. They focus on the results.
Leaders who concentrate their energies on achieving the results that they were hired to accomplish, the results that others expect of them, develop the reputation for performance and achievement that inevitably leads to the perception of greater charisma.
You can develop the kind of charisma that opens doors by going to work on yourself, consistently and persistently, and becoming the kind of person everyone can admire and look up to. That’s what charisma is all about.
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:
1. Ask yourself every day, What is the one thing that I (and only I) can do, that if done well, will make a real difference to my company? Whatever your answer is, go to work on that.
2. Select the most important results you can get for your company and make sure that you and everyone else is working on those results every hour of every day.
