Jim Rohn's 7 Personality Traits of a Great Leader

Introduction:

One who finds ways of improving things and motivates people to move towards a better vision is a leader. Leaders put people first and work toward making their vision a reality. Leaders are supposed to be empathetic and to be successful, must connect with people.
To be a great leader, you must become a person of quality yourself. Only then you’ll be able to attract quality people. Refining your skills is the most important thing in leadership. One must keep on working on himself/herself until he/she becomes effective. Jim Rohn has given seven personality traits of a great leader.

Seven personality traits of a great leader:

1. Learn to be strong but not impolite
According to Jim Rohn, the first trait of a great leader is to be strong but not impolite. A very common mistake made by people repetitively is that they think that impolite behaviour/rude behaviour is a sign of strength. But it’s a wrong assumption. A person, with politeness and warmth in his/her nature and behaviour, can win several hearts and connect with a large number of people. To become a powerful leader, you must become capable with a wide range of reach.
2. Learn to be kind but not weak
The second trait, according to Jim Rohn, is to be kind but not weak. Another misconception that floats around among people is that they mistake weakness for kindness. The kindness of a person isn’t his/her weakness rather is a type of strength. You must be kind enough, to tell the truth to people, lay it on the line, tell it the way it is and not deal in delusion. Such clarity and honesty are required in a great leader.
3. Learn to be bold but not a bully
Jim Rohn mentions that the third trait to become a great leader is to be bold but not a bully. It takes a significant amount of boldness to win the day. You’ve to walk in front of your group to build your influence. You should be willing to tackle the first problem and discover the first sign of trouble. Just like the farmer, you have to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight, if you want rewards at the time of harvest.
4. Learn to be humble but not timid
The fourth trait to become a great leader, according to Jim Rohn is, to be humble but not timid. If you are timid, you can’t get to the high life. People often mistake timidity for humility. Timidity is a disease that can be cured but is a problem. Humility is awareness of the human soul, an understanding of the uniqueness of the human drama versus the rest of life.

5. Learn to be proud but not arrogant
According to Jim Rohn, the fifth trait of a great leader is to be proud but not arrogant. For a person, it takes pride to build his/her ambitions, pride in his/her community, and pride in a cause, in accomplishment. The key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without arrogance. The worst kind of arrogance that a person may possess is arrogance with ignorance. A smart person with arrogance can be tolerated for once, but if a person is ignorant and arrogant, that’s just intolerable and disastrous.
6. Learn to develop humor without folly
Jim Rohn’s sixth trait for becoming a great leader is to develop humor but without folly. A leader can be witty but not silly. It’s ok for him/her to be fun but not foolish. A good sense of humor makes everything thing very light and helps to make the environment stress-free. It helps everyone grow.
7. Learn to deal in realities
According to Jim Rohn, a good leader deals in truth. Hence, the seventh trait mentioned by him to become a great leader is to deal in realities. One should save himself/herself from the agony of delusion. A leader accepts the whole drama of life as it is. The one who accepts the truth of life and perceives things just the way they are become a great leader.

Summary:

Life, for everyone, is unique. Every leader has his/her own way of leading and thus, even the leadership is unique. There are different people with different skill sets. That’s why the different skills work well for different leaders. But, some fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted by everyone; at work, in the community, and at home. The above-mentioned traits by Jim Rohn are those fundamental traits/skills that need to be developed by a leader to become a great leader.