The Habits Of Successful Leaders [Infographic]

We’ve all read about certain job titles that will soon be in high demand since there is a growing shortage of people going into those careers. According to a Forbes article from back in May, the hardest jobs to fill in America are engineers, IT staff, sales representatives, accounting and finance staff, drivers, mechanics, nurses and machine operators. However, there is another type of person (not career) that is also in high demand. Leaders (especially successful leaders) are hard to find, and that is a problem that is only expected to get more challenging within the next few years.

Many companies are expanding their budgets to include intensive and comprehensive leadership training for their employees, although some people argue that leadership isn’t as much of a learned skill as it is an overall attitude. So how do people learn to become successful leaders? Perhaps one way would be to look at the habits that current successful leaders have. This 2010 article called Great Leaders on Leadership is an insightful and inspiring look at how some successful leaders view leadership itself.

This infographic below called Getting Fit To Lead by Michigan State University Online (design by NowSourcing) also presents a very nice illustration of the habits of successful leaders. If emerging leaders want to practice the habits of successful leaders, this infographic is a great place to start. The place I’ve learned the most about leadership is Harvard Business School. If you click on that link, you’ll see that there is a short quiz you can take which will assess your leadership skills. Once you’ve completed it, it will suggest further reading designed specifically for where you are in your own leadership development. What I really like about this infographic is that it details the 8 steps in the leadership development process of successful leaders in a very straightforward way. I hope you enjoy it!