It is not just that leadership in all of its forms is difficult to define; one should also define greatness. Notwithstanding, here is how some have approached the subject:

• "A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them."—M. D. Arnold
• "The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things."—Ronald Reagan
• "A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be."—Rosalynn Carter
• "The price of greatness is responsibility."—Winston Churchill
• "A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together."— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
• "No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all the credit for doing it."—Andrew Carnegie
• "Average leaders raise the bar on themselves; good leaders raise the bar for others; great leaders inspire others to raise their own bar."—Orrin Woodward
• "All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership."—John Kenneth Galbraith
• "Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand."—Colin Powell
• "Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths."—John Zenger
• "The greatest leaders mobilize others by coalescing people around a shared vision."—Ken Blanchard

Humility

Tolerance

Coordination

Using the Big Five framework, effective leaders do appear to have some key traits in common: they are extraverted (individuals who like being around people and are able to assert themselves), conscientious (disciplined individuals who keep the commitments they make), and open (individuals who are creative and flexible).

The charismatic characteristics identified by House are: vision, a willingness to take personal risks to achieve that vision, sensitivity to followers’ needs, and exhibiting behaviors that are out of the ordinary. Charismatic leaders influence followers by: (1) Articulating an appealing vision: a long-term strategy on how to attain a goal or goals. (2) Communicating values. (3) Modeling behavior aligned with the new set of values: being an example for followers to imitate. (4) Engaging in emotion-inducing and often unconventional behavior to demonstrate courage and convictions about the vision.

Based on my own observation of successful leaders and hand-on-experience it is possible to present a set of leadership traits a person must have to become a successful leader. The set is given below by using each letter of the term Leadership:

L = Liberal (being tolerant of different opinions and behaviours of followers; freed from political bias)

E = Educated (above average knowledge and technical competence relevant to the work/business)

A = Active (directly involved in work and working hard for it), Assertiveness (quality of being forthright in expressing demands, opinions, feelings, and attitudes)

D = Dependable (reliable; giving certainty to followers about consistent or fair acting)

E = Efficient (ability to minimize waste), Emotional Intelligence (ability to manage own emotions and understand others’ emotions)

R =Responsible (tendency to make sure that necessary tasks are carried out)

S = Self-Confidence (to have trust in own competencies), Self-Awareness (of strengths and limitations), Sensitivity to people (considering people’s needs and feelings when dealing with them)

H = Human Relations (willing to maintain good relations with followers), Honesty (practice what you preach and set a good example to follow)

I = Intelligence (above average competence to do rational reasoning and to integrate and interpret large amounts of data and information)

P= Persistence (continue to do it with determination, even though it is difficult or some people are against), Persuasiveness (causing others to do something by giving a good rationale), Power Motivation (strong desire to control others)

Source: Opatha, H.H.D.N.P. (2015), Organizational Behaviour, Department of HRM, University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Out of the above, the top three attributes, in my view, are Self-Confidence in leading having a big vision, Human relations and Honesty. A great leader is a leader who has been followed by a great number of people.

Thank you.

1. Highly Emotionally Intelligent

2. Highly Spiritually Intelligent

3. A reasonable intellect (Rational Intelligence)

Great leaders are Transpersonal Leaders who operate beyond their ego, continuing personal development and learning. They are radical, ethical and authentic while emotionally intelligent and caring.

They are able to:

• embed authentic, ethical and emotionally intelligent behaviours into the DNA of the organisation

• build strong, empathetic and collaborative relationships within the organisation and with all stakeholders

• create a Performance Enhancing Culture that is Ethical, Caring and Sustainable

Acronym: BE REAL

Beyond Ego – Radical, Ethical, Authentic Leadership

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Thank you John.

As has been said, Leaders and leadership can be defined in many ways. I make the assumption that Leadership is a combination of The Leader, The Led, and The Situation. within this context, The three key traits of a great leader are Character, Competence and Vision.

According to Fred Kofman and Peter Senge (1995), one of the reasons the great man theory appeals is that it absolves us of responsibility for developing leadership capabilities more broadly. Viewed systemically, there is a "shifting the burden" structure: a perceived need for leadership (a symptom) can be met by developing capacities throughout the organization (the fundamental solution) or by relying on a heroic leader (the symptomatic solution). Success in finding a heroic leader reinforces beliefs in the group‘s own powerlessness, thus making the fundamental solution more difficult.

See: Fred Kofman and Peter Senge. 1995. Communities of Commitment: The Heart of Learning Organizations. In Sarita Chawla and John Renesch, eds. Learning Organizations: Developing Cultures for Tomorrow’s Workplace. Productivity Press, Inc.

A great leader is a great follower , a compassionate giver, and an optimistic visionary .

Thank you Olivier Serrat for your input.

Thank you Remi For your input.

Thank you Uchenna For your input.

Thank you Haitham fir your response.

Thank you Haitham again for your response. I am running late with my responses but your input is cery much appreciate. Amir

Thank you Michael.

Thank you Olivier for your response

Thank you Judy for your response. Amir

The idea of leadership is something we tend to engage with almost in defiance of the evidence. In fact a leader tends to be chosen by a group-politicians exemplify this-because their own needs and goals can more easily be met that way. A leader can in fact be manipulated by a following group rather than be a catalyst in the Great Man/Woman sense. Many 'leaders' can be unceremoniously disposed of once the aims of a group are met, for example Churchill after the Second World War. In the same era, Hitler was supported by a number of followers because his obsessive, amoral nature provided opportunities to similar types greedy for power.

Leaders will of course point to their own real or imagined qualities to explain their rise, but Napoleon for example functioned as the head of a talented team, leading armies with established strategies, failing when his team disbanded or outgrew him. Caesar's writings underplayed or blotted out talented aids that helped him in his conquests. In some instances, Wolfe at Quebec for example, the general's subordinates assumed command when his tactics were proving disastrous but still, in part to conceal their mutinous behaviour, gave all credit to him as he lay dying. In my youth, he was held as one of the Great Men of the early British Empire.

Many business leaders disguise the help that gained in becoming successful. In the UK, Branson, founder of Virgin, had immense help from his family, and the entrepreneur Sugar likewise.

It is in fact followers we perhaps should concentrate on, not the leaders followers raise for their own benefit.

Thank You Stanley for your response.

Amir, you have received some excellent holistic responses. I think Olivier Serrat's and Stanley Wilkin's contributions are particularly appropriate when considering what leadership is all about in the 21st century - even though they may not answer your specific question.

I agree with you John. Many thanks for your comments.

On a practical note, a leader should have a memory of past experiences-so that he doesn't repeat his mistakes, adaptability to change- consistent learning and an ability to place himself in others shoes before taking decisions. Situational leadership is the need of the hour

I like what Rani has said but she should also add he/she instead of assuming that only men can be leaders!