Are you a Good Leader or a Great Leader??

There are many characteristics of a good leader, but here are a few that I have observed that are indispensable... whether you're leading your family, a team, an organization large or small great leaders posses these traits:

Courage

True leadership is having the courage to go where others will not or have not gone or will not go. It's not the absence of fear but the determination that there is something greater. True leaders demonstrate courage in their families, in conflict, and in taking new ground.

Initiative

Vision without action is just a dream. Leaders take initiative to get things moving around them. True leaders, no matter what level they are in their organization or what they are leading, are self-starters - they are always looking for the next action needed. Without initiative everyone would wait on everyone else to make a move - leaders make that move.

Decisiveness

Leaders make decisions. That may sound simple but one of the characteristics of a leader is that they will make the call. Without decisiveness from the leader everyone makes their own assumptions, their won plans, and their own agenda - all of which may be far from the vision of the leader. It is not enough to have goals and vision - someone has to decide how it will get done. Great family leaders are decisive, great athletic leaders are decisive, and leaders of great organizations know the power of decisiveness.

Optimism

Great leaders are positive people. Great leaders posses a "can-do" attitude and avoid pessimistic ways of looking at their situation. They give a part of who they are in this area to those who they are leading.

Integrity
It is a leaders "walk" that either discredits their "talk" or validates it. A leader's words mean nothing without a strong testimony to back them up. Leadership is always more about who we are than what we do. You can lead without Character, but Character is what makes you a leader worth following. Do those who follow you see you as a person of Character?

For each one of these ask...

Why is this an indispensible trait for a leder to have?

What happens when the trait is missing?

One a scale of 1-10, how would you rate yourself relative to this character trait? (1 - i need to work on this, 10 - I excel at this)