What makes a good leader?

In my experience a good leader is one who listens and respects you for what you bring to the table. Over my many years of successful project delivery I have worked with some really inspiring leaders. The common trait in all of those leaders has been their willingness to listen, to spend time with me, to digest and understand what I am saying, to challenge appropriately and ultimately empower and trust me to do the job I have been employed to do. They have put their faith in my ability to deliver and they have respected my knowledge and expertise in project delivery.

Leaders who don't listen, who don't take the time to understand what you are telling them, don't respect your advice and expertise are the ones who in my opinion are not (and never will be unless they change their ways), good leaders. Whilst some of those may manage to progress their careers up the executive ladder, they eventually get found out as being poor leaders and often find their way back down at the bottom (and deservedly so).

I am fortunate that I have worked with a number of great leaders during my thirty plus years of project delivery and they have my utmost respect. They have helped me grow and further develop my career, my skills and expertise and I am confident and proud that I have helped them grow too. Those are the leaders I admire and respect the most and those are the ones who deserve the accolades, the success and the rewards.

I have worked for lots of companies around the world (predominately as a contractor), and when I look back on my key project achievements, I would estimate that over ninety percent of those achievements have involved a good leader (or leaders). For those projects that didn't quite hit the mark, I estimate over ninety percent of those are due to a leader (or leaders), who didn't listen because they thought they knew better!

"If you employ a qualified plumber to fix a leaking tap, why would you tell him how to do it! You'd be better off understanding how he fixed it"

Paul Martin

Principal Consultant