There are several skills that a leader needs to possess to excel. The most important of these is the ability to have a vision for the company and more significantly, the intelligence to make that vision percolate down to the lowest ranks in the organisation. Leaders need to make informed decisions, and to do that, the basic quality that they need to possess is foresight. Leaders must have the ability to look at the big picture and judge beforehand what the consequences of their actions and decisions could be. In addition, a true leader is one who foresees risks and plans ahead to minimise or avoid them.

Leaders must accept the fact that certain decisions taken by them may not appeal to everyone in the organisation. Hence, good leaders are those that create an open forum for communication with everyone in the company, listen to their suggestions and then make the final decision. This open communication creates a sense of responsibility among team members where they feel that their points of view are equally valuable, and hence they constantly strive to do better.

Another important quality that distinguishes a good leader from an average one is the former's sense of self. This includes traits like self esteem, self image and self confidence. These traits are extremely important as leaders are responsible for projecting the personality of their organisations through their personality and behaviour. Leaders should have the courage to say what they feel is good for the company, and act on it too.

Finally, leaders need to build a proactive relation between themselves and their people to create true value in the organisation. It is, after all, a democratic set-up that can succeed today, and not an imperialistic one.