Examples of Good Leaders Come in All Shapes & Sizes
The Google definition of a leader is: ‘The person who leads or commands a group, organisation or country.’ This is an accurate, objective definition if you take the word ‘leader’ at face value. I like to see things slightly differently, however. My definition of a leader is one that looks at the qualities a person must have in order to lead rather than a simple look at the word itself.
‘A leader is a diligent, influential and respectful person who is skilled in the organisation of a group that ultimately leads that group to success.’
Diligent, Influential and Respectful
These three words are what I believe to be the best description and example of a good leader. A full encompassing set of adjectives that show not just what makes a leader, but a damn good one at that. Diligence helps a leader stay on top of their team. Understanding and being aware of each of your team members, how they work and what they are or need to be doing. A leader must look after their team in order to reach success. Influence is equally as important.
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A great leader must have an impact on each of their team members and the team as a unit. A leader that cannot influence people will fall short of desired results. The team need to feel led and led properly. Without someone to answer to, someone to go to for help, advice, or any of the above, a team becomes a collection of people. If the team is a packet of sweets, the leader is the wrapper. Without the packaging, the sweets fall loose and rarely stay together for very long. The ability to influence is required to keep the team a team.
Respect. A fine balance. Some school teachers tried to lead with fear, I remember. These teachers often had the least control over their classroom of all. People respond defensively to strict, fear-driven leaders and defensiveness will ruin creativity and confidence which are two things you need in each of your team members. Respect your team, as the leader, and they will respect you. Mutual respect is the ultimate aim in having good rapport with your team and thus achieving your collective goal.
In this article, I am going to display five of the most influential, diligent and respectful leaders in world history. I certainly learned from watching these people. Hopefully, you can too.
Examples of Good Leaders: Our Planet’s Best Leaders in History
1. Nelson Mandela
One of the biggest pieces of the world’s race orientated history, was the abolishment of apartheid. Nelson Mandela did that. An incredibly influential man shifted the perspectives of millions of people from black versus white to black and white, including everyone in between. Before this, he served twenty-seven years in prison. Talk about not letting your setbacks stop you. A life sentence in jail, followed by a six-year presidency leading the exact country that put you away and changing it to a full-blown, multiracial democracy.
Mandela is incredibly unique in this way. A big quality of any team is resilience. When this resilience is shown in such an undeniable way, the example set is infinitely more likely to be followed. Respect is shown here anyway by Mandela’s ability to forgive in order to progress. I feel like I’d be a tad salty about my country jailing me for thirty-odd years, definitely salty enough to not want to lead that country going forward. It didn’t matter to Nelson, though. His unique sense of resilience and humility makes him one of the most notable leaders in our history. The man that endured the biggest setback possible and still went on to change the views of millions of people the world over. A strong start in our examples of good leaders.
2. Elon Musk
A more modern take on examples of great leaders is Tesla CEO, Elon Musk. I read a quote about Elon not too long ago; ‘The thing that makes Elon Elon is his ability to make other people believe in his vision’. This quote so blatantly encompasses such an important part of a leader. Now, keep in mind that there are two types of leader in terms of their starting point. You get leaders who are assigned a team and told to lead them, company managers, supervisors, usually roles that take place within a company. Then, you get leaders who have an idea, a vision that requires a team to achieve.
The first type is hard because you have to create the buzz, and ignite the fire in your team through means other than the goal itself. Unless there is a clear incentive other than ‘do it or we’ll fire you’. The second is hard because your idea has to ignite the fire itself. Convincing people who aren’t your team to become your team based on nothing but an intangible vision is no walk in the park.
Uniqueness is Key
Elon is, of course, the second type of leader here. His uniqueness lies in the fact that he’s managed to revolutionise the vehicle industry by making an electric car that blew all the nerdy, clunky and impractical connotations of electric cars out of the window. He got a team of people excited enough about his vision to help him make the car, then he got millions of people excited enough about the car to buy one. That’s no easy task. Not only that, he then got a team of people to believe in the silly idea that we might go to Mars. Now SpaceX is a hugely successful corporation that has every chance of colonising Mars in our lifetime. Having enough influence on people to make them believe in, quite frankly, ludacris ideas is a skill possessed by this man. And, one that should be possessed by every great leader.
3. Walt Disney
The third in our examples of good leaders. A name we all know and love, Mr. Walt Disney. Curator of all things magical and enchanting. Also, a fantastic leader. There is a quote for this one too, ‘Whatever we’ve accomplished belongs to our entire group, a tribute to our combined effort.’ What. A. Statement. A leader humble enough to have this much clarity is really someone special. We’re wired to crave recognition for our work and letting that go in order to preserve a happy team in their success is future-proofing like you’ve never seen before. A true ‘great leader’ quality.
Disney also travelled to the USA to recruit the finest artistic minds he could find. He’d even offer to pay for their schooling in order to ensure they were able to hone their craft in the best way possible. This is a good example of building a solid foundation for your visions. Walt knew he couldn’t make his vision a reality without the help of an incredibly talented team. So he built the best foundation possible and rightfully credited everyone involved.
He was also diligent in making his team aware that his stories needed to be told how he wanted them told. He utilised a team for the execution of a much wider vision by creating the environment for all of their smaller visions to be executed, too. That’s one of the best qualities that Disney had. Too many cooks can spoil the soup, so he looked after the soup whilst each of his team looked after a specific ingredient.
4. Winston Churchill
The boldness of this man is what made him such a fantastic leader. Another massively important quality in leadership is the ability to make decisions. Be accountable for the ones that fail, and share the success of the ones that don’t. Churchill stepped up in a time of real crisis and led The UK to success in World War Two. Bold decisions, bold moves, accountability. Winston managed to make himself ‘the people’s leader’. He did this by regularly visiting bombed villages and towns and standing with English citizens as if to tell them ‘I am one of you.’
This leadership shows real humility. Churchill recognised the situation; Germany had bombed so much of Western Europe that he needed to rally the people of his country – quickly. He did not ignore the sacrifice his country had made, he simply showed the people that they could still overcome this challenge, despite it all.
This man also had significant influential power. He used words as weapons. It is often claimed that his ‘simple’ utterings had more power than a thousand-man army. This is something that every leader should strive for. The ability to rally a group of people, simply by talking with them and to them in a way that creates faith, hope and determination in those people is a skill that is invaluable in leadership.
5. Bill Gates
Racing right back to a much more recent era, Bill Gates was the world’s youngest billionaire in 1987 with a net worth of $12.8 billion – the last of our examples of good leaders. 12.8 is petty cash for Gates, now, but that’s by the by. Ultimately, Bill Gates led in a similar way to Elon Musk. He needed to convince people of the potential success of his software idea in order to gain their trust and bring them on board for success.
Gates did one thing right, in particular. In an interview, he said, ‘I always just really loved software’. Like Musk loved innovation, Mandela loved equality, and like Disney loved stories. The key to success is to simply love what you do, and do that, forever. Gates’ main vision was not to build a team, it wasn’t to be a billionaire, it was to create and develop software. That’s why I left this man for last, he embodies the root of leadership – the root of success. He never lost sight of the end game and that’s something that will have motivated his team to make Gates’ vision a reality.
Bill Gates was also great at recognising his own downfalls and allowing his team to make up for them. He was very aware of his controlling and authoritarian nature. He knew that this would hinder creativity so he empowered his team to think differently and be creative in order to achieve success. Which he did. Obviously… I wouldn’t mind a cheeky 12.8 billion, would you?
Final Thoughts on Examples of Good Leaders…
These examples of good leaders are all fantastic leaders in their own right. Imagine, however, that you could embody all the great qualities listed in these five people and curate them in your own leadership style. What if someone had the influence of Elon Musk, with the efficiency of Winston Churchill? Would be amazing, right? Well, add a dash of resilience from Nelson Mandela and a half cup of dedication from Walt Disney and you’ve got a pretty awesome leader that’s bound for success. The recipe isn’t quite finished yet, thought. The cake is only half baked. The secret ingredient is the most important.
You.
As said before, these people are all amazing. However, there’s one big quality that they all share. They all followed their visions. Musk wanted to build a car, so he did. Gates Wanted to revolutionise software, so he did. Churchill wanted to win the war, so he did. I could go on. So, what do you want to do? If the answer is simple to be a great leader, you’re off to a good start but that’s not the best jump-off point. The best starting place is to figure out what it is YOU want to achieve. Do you want to make films?
Start with an idea, then get people on board. Do you want to get a promotion at work? Start was a route of how to get there, then take a team with you. Do you want to run a company? Start with a problem to solve, then convince others that that problem needs solving and take them with you.
Be a great leader. Be your own leader.
Action: For even more useful content on leadership, check out our ultimate guide on Leadership Skills.
