Developing the great leader within – be strong

Perhaps the quality most associated with great leadership is strength.

We may think of military leaders who refused to give up when the odds were against them, political leaders who defied those around them and ploughed ahead with their policies, business leaders who ruled by fear.

But ruling by fear and toughing things out is far from what makes a great leader today.

The quality of strength that makes the most significant and sustainable difference to leadership in a successful modern organisation is somewhat more complex and subtle, closer to inner strength than outer bravado. To be a great leader means doing the right things, sticking by core values and, above all, taking responsibility.

Strong Leaders take responsibility

At the heart of all good leadership is the skill and habit of taking full responsibility. What happens to you may largely be outside your control, but how you respond to what happens very much defines who you are.

Those who seek to blame others, blame the authorities, blame their upbringing, blame the environment, blame the market - or any number of other things - these are people who have not developed the strength to recognise that they and they alone choose how they behave in response to things around them.

Strong Leaders let go of control

A good example of strong leadership is in the extraordinarily successful US carrier SouthWest Airlines. They have invested heavily over the years in great leadership across the organisation, so that there is no dependency on a few individuals, rather, there are widespread shared values, credibility, a sense of strong, caring leadership.

Top managers make themselves available to employees, they are visible, they treat all people with the same respect, regardless of status.

Despite a prevailing culture in the airline industry of being heavily dominated by unions, which encourages hierarchy, lack of collaboration and blaming, SWA bucked this trend and stood up for its values of people across the business sharing responsibility and working together to solve problems quickly and objectively.

This has made them hugely efficient and therefore more profitable and successful than many others. It took strength of leadership - not standing up to the unions and bullying people into new ways of working, but the strength to stick by their values and sustain great relationships as a core principle of how they do business with unions, staff, suppliers and passengers alike.

To make this work, they have invested in the growth and nurturing of strong leadership teams at all levels. Staff are therefore not in any way dependent on leaders, as they know about each other's areas, they understand the whole picture and are well integrated.

The fundamental principle on which this is based is that leaders let go of controlling everything and are not focused on discipline and compliance, rather, they spend their time coaching and developing others. Letting go of control is a key strength - and a feature of truly strong leadership.

Strong Leaders learn from mistakes

Strength also means taking the opportunity to learn from everything that happens, especially your failures. Having a great idea and giving up or blaming others if it does not initially work is not the trademark of a great leader.

Failure is valuable feedback. Failing to achieve something can provide excellent learning for how not to do that in future. Great athletes describe how their failures spurred them on to greater levels of performance.

Thomas Edison famously found 1001 ways to invent a lightbulb that did not work before his failures brought him to the design that was successful.

Few really great achievements come without failures along the way. Great leadership means embracing this, taking responsibility for having chosen that path and learning from the outcome.

Strong Leaders make tough decisions

Being strong also means making tough decisions, often when others around you prefer to make no decision because there is risk involved either way and nobody wants to make "the wrong decision". Great leadership means making tough decisions in alignment with core values and agreed key principles, then making those decisions work.

There is no such thing as a wrong decision but sometimes you can make a decision that turns out not to have a successful outcome - in which case, a great leader will recognise how to learn from it, make a new decision and take responsibility for everything that happens.

Strong Leaders don't need big egos

Sometimes, we become attached to our decisions or opinions and ignore or do not fully and objectively consider other ideas or feedback because our ego needs to be "right". This is not an example of strength; this is weakness, putting ego needs before principles or values.

This is why great leaders establish early on with their teams what those shared values and principles are, so there can be a simple and objective way to review tough decisions, where opinion may be divided.

These principles will be evident in all decisions and actions - those who live their values will have a strong core that makes tough decisions easier. Does this path fit with our values? If not, let's not do it.

It is also how great leaders encourage their teams to challenge, by not favouring weak ‘yes men'. If as a leader you can encourage an environment where people feel unafraid to speak out, to challenge the ideas or thinking of even the most senior executives, then you will have the most robust debates.

This should result in well-thought through and considered plans which stand a high chance of success. Where people have felt able to challenge, even if the decision is not what they recommended, they will feel more committed to the outcome and can support it strongly.

This is in strong contrast to weak leadership where it is the biggest egos that win all debates. Gradually no other opinions or thoughts are even offered and those who could see the decision is folly but did not feel able to speak up, will not be completely committed to implementing or supporting the action. This most often results in failure without any learning benefit.

Where these big egos have dominated the team thinking, discouraging challenge or alternative ideas, they are also more likely to blame others for the outcome if it is not ideal. Strong leaders instinctively mistrust the ‘yes-men' and seek those who have the courage to challenge and think differently.

A great leader, with a strong leadership team, will create and maintain a culture which nurtures talent and encourages new thinking, one which constantly renews itself through learning and high quality feedback and one where human interactions, communication and relationships are of the best quality.

Natalie Gillam works for NG Coaching, an executive leadership coaching company based in Dubai and London. NG Coaching provides executive coaching and leadership masterclasses in the UAE. To find out more email Natalie on This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

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