Do you ever think about taking all the great leaders you’ve had the pleasure of working for or with and putting them in one room for a day?

What if you took all the traits that made each of them who they are and combined them into one person, creating a sort of all-star team of leadership traits?

Gretchen Rosswurm's article Leaders Communicate and Communicators Lead inspired this idea.

She looked at the many executives she’s worked with over the years and drew some common denominators.

Five Ways Great Leaders Communicate

• They inspire with their vision. By being able to paint a compelling picture of the future, good leaders truly motivate and inspire their teams. These leaders have a very clear picture of the end goal and they continually share the story.
• They are great listeners. Leaders already know what they know and what they think. They don't want to hear themselves speak; they want to hear from everyone else and learn from them. They show interest and compassion, and are open to hearing feedback; both positive and negative.
• They are open and transparent. Employees don’t like surprises. It makes them feel unstable. Good leaders are open about what’s happening and apprise staff of changes before they are due to happen communicating throughout the process.
• They are more inclusive rather than exclusive. Employees want to be included in decision-making and strategy or at least like to feel they have a say. Good leaders engage and involve more people in the vision to gain input and buy-in. From there, word of mouth helps to build the respect and growth from others.
• They communicate in a variety of ways. Some people like charts, others text and others yet, are very visual. Good leaders understand there is more than one way to communicate to the team and they incorporate all of these elements into multi-media presentations to speak to each of their audiences.

What would you add? What great leaders inspire you?

Thanks to Eyetalk for the image.