Leadership Skills
Become an Exceptional Leader
With persistence, you can be an exceptional leader.
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The old-fashioned view of leadership is that leaders are marked out for leadership from early on in their lives; and that if you are not a born leader, there's little you can do to become one.
That's not the way we see it now. The modern view is that through patience, persistence and hard work, you can be a truly effective leader, just as long as you make the effort needed.
The 30+ articles in this section help you develop your leadership skills, so that you can become an exceptional leader.
Start by taking our short leadership quiz to test your leadership skills. Then firm up on the leadership basics, explore the different approaches to leadership that you can use, and find out why emotional intelligence is so important in leadership.
The Browse by Category box will help you target specific leadership skills, while you can look through the list below to find interesting topics. Enjoy these articles!
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Leadership Basics
Leadership Motivation Assessment
How motivated are you to lead?
Leadership Motivation Tools
Find the passion to lead
Authentic Leadership
Being a leader who people want to follow
Ethical Leadership
Doing the right thing
French and Raven's Five Forms of Power
Understanding where power comes from in the workplace
Winning Expert Power
Leading from the front
Leadership Styles
Leadership Styles
Using the right one for the right situation
The Hersey-Blanchard Situational Leadership® Theory
Choosing the right leadership style for the right people
The Tannenbaum-Schmidt Leadership Continuum
Balancing control with your team's need for freedom
"Laissez Faire" versus Micromanagement
Getting the balance right
Blake Mouton Managerial Grid
Balancing task and people-oriented leadership
Action Centered Leadership™
Balancing task-, team- and individual-focus
Fiedler's Contingency Model
Matching leadership style to a situation
Path-Goal Theory
Discovering the best leadership style
Six Emotional Leadership Styles
Choosing the right style for the situation
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
Learning how to be more aware
Articles by Bruna Martinuzzi
Insights into Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
Leading Cross-Cultural Teams
Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions
Understanding workplace values around the World
Becoming a Leader
10 Common Leadership and Management Mistakes
Avoiding universal pitfalls
Leading Equals
Motivating people effectively, without authority
Now You're the Boss...
Learning how to manage former peers
What a Real Leader Knows
Developing fundamental leadership skills
Level 5 Leadership
Achieving "greatness" as a leader
The Four Factor Theory of Leadership
A foundation of good leadership
Young and Future Leaders
Leadership by the New Generation
Bridging the gap between younger and older managers
Building Tomorrow's Leaders
Identifying and developing leaders in your organization
Crisis and Contingency Planning
Crisis Planning
Preparing your best response to the unexpected
Contingency Planning
Developing a good 'Plan B'
Leadership in Hard Times
Leading - and succeeding - in a downturn
Where to go from here:
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Leadership Skills