What do all great leaders have in common?

Who exactly is a leader?  Leader ’ the person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country’1 This ubiquitous definition seems to satisfy the curiosity of the average man, but is this all that there is? The more we think about it, search and read about it; greater becomes the gravity of this question that initially seems simplistic in nature. Harvard Business Review defines Leadership as the accomplishment of a goal through human assistants.2 These human assistants can be defined as leaders. While the situation may not be so black and white we universally agree on the fact that leaders guide the individuals around them. The phrase Great Leader also has ambiguity attached to it, but the world has seen plenty of examples that allow us a gist of understanding who they really are. Mahatma Gandhi, Oprah Winfrey, and Martin Luther King Jr  are a few familiar names, yet what was it that these celebrated individuals had in common?

Great Leaders bring in a great set of convictions, ideologies and principles; build a mighty presence and leave an ever-lasting culture. Mahatma Gandhi built and promoted the concept of ‘ahimsa’ and left the culture of non-violence, a phenomena that is extremely prevalent even today. I would argue that great leaders never leave organisations or communities, instead the impact they made remains in the everlasting  form of culture. “I will give up world championship any day of the week, in order to keep my integrity. I think that that is how we operate,”3 . A quote by Toto Wolff the current team principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 team, who is an example of a modern day leader making an effort to build a culture on the basis of integrity. “Having a strong culture pays off financially: It can impact employees’ motivation, which, in turn, influences their work’s quality and efficiency, ability to reach goals, and retention rates.”4  Not only does a great leader help organizations achieve their goals and objectives they also reshape the vision and purpose of the organizations. The perfect example for this is the 2007 Cynthia Caroll case, who was the first woman and non-African to hold the position of CEO at Anglo American a century old mining giant. One the first day of her appointment as CEO the 100th miner death was reported, this was a common issue in the mining industry. Caroll unexpectedly shut down the mine and reorganized the entirety of the mining system and structure under Anglo American. Roughly 15-16 years later ‘At Anglo American, we are re-imagining mining to improves people’s lives.’ is the vision of the company. I would like to draw the fact that if back in 2007 Cynthia had not taken the decision to shut down mines and reformat the organizations mines, nothing would have changed. Inevitably Anglo American would have run like it had for the past century, but the courage to take a decision one that was not backed by shareholders and even led to the Vice president of the company quitting, shaped Anglo American into what it is today.

A great leader is able to inspire not just by their words but by their actions, they lead by example and leave a culture that shapes the basis of an organization.