Ways to Become a Better Leader

1. Keep Searching Stay open and don't rush to conclusions. This is difficult when we feel we have to have the "right" answer. But the right answer can mean many things. Maintaining an open viewpoint means there is room to seek information from others. You can do research, learn more, and gather details that would otherwise elude you. In this process, you'll even be able to tap into previously unknown information.
2. Know Your Strengths If your particular ability is quantitative research, know how and where that can best be applied for optimal results. Work at growing your strengths and refining them. It doesn't matter what you don't have, focus on what you do have and grow it. By focusing on your strengths, you can do your absolute best. And whether you're a cheerleader or someone who likes to think deep thoughts alone, you have something valuable with you.
3. Be Present And Participate Whether you're in a meeting, talking with a team member, or in a 1-on-1 meeting, you're there for a reason. You have something to add to the mix. Make sure you participate and interact. It's important to discuss your point of view, provide your questions, . It used to be that meetings involved higher-ups talking at people who would carry out orders. Everyone in the organization brings valuable knowledge with them. It means we're all contributors. We can avoid problems early on by sharing knowledge. This is some of the best insurance an organization can ever have -- the collective intelligence of a business unit or small group. No one will remember the number of times you fail -- they're all too busy thinking of themselves.
4. Engage And Move Toward Others Real leadership doesn't mean that you're leading the pack. It means you engage the pack, make people think, and get them involved. How does it feel to sit in a meeting with someone who tends his or her notes, sits back, and looks at the corner of the ceiling? It's not fun to work with people who are blank. You can tell a lot about someone's commitment to a project by looking at how they sit. If they're leaning back, not contributing and they look as if they'd like to lunge for the door, they're not sharing. Your contributions and engagement make the team stronger and more capable. Leaders get everyone involved.

5. Train Yourself To Hold Opposing Views If you were on the debate team in school, you probably already know the value of being able to see multiple sides of an argument. You practiced taking the side you liked and felt was "right," and voicing what might have been foreign to you so that you'd know how to fend off the arguments of the opposition. Look at two things that appear to be opposites. Could both be true? If you stepped into another person's way of thinking, culture, belief system, knowledge base -- could both be true? If you have one alternative, how many others can you think of? What additional options might work? By developing an appreciation for others' points of view, we maintain our ability to see a broader number of alternatives and discuss them, even when we disagree.

6. Get Back Up Every Time Steve Jobs, who many find to be an exemplary CEO by several different measures, was fired from Apple, the company he founded. Carly Fiorina was booted off the board and out of the C-suite at Hewlett-Packard.

They all reinvented themselves and went on to new success. This kind of people always find out ways to resolve the predicament. Strategy is action-oriented. Strategists who lead choose to be curious, understand their gifts, be present, look at both sides of the equation, and keep getting back up.