How to Be a Great Leader

In organizations big and small, truly great leaders have one thing in common: they have a bigger purpose driving them, a why. It’s this connection to what’s really important that helps them be confident, authentic, and trustworthy, and research shows that those are the characteristics people remember about the leaders who have moved them the most. 

And that leads us to a super important question: Can you articulate your why? What’s your bigger purpose, your noble goal? If you want to be an exceptional leader, finding and articulating your why should be at the top of your to do list – and this article takes you through a process for doing exactly that.

Read on for a more nuanced definition of noble goals, examples of some of our team members’ noble goals, and expert tips for thinking about your own.

To make sure that your noble goal is something enduring, expansive, and applicable to every part of your life, Six Seconds developed these guidelines:

Not complete in your lifetime – It is long lasting and inspiring, something beyond the every day struggle. This helps you maintain a long-term focus so you can avoid the confusion of short-term thinking.

Directed outward – While you will benefit, the focus is on others. This helps you maintain an expansive vision.

Integrates different areas  – It encompasses all dimensions of your life; serving your noble goal in one area (such as work) supports you in all others (such as family). Think about Josh’s noble goal, “To inspire compassionate wisdom.” He can do this equally well when disciplining his teenage kids as he can while he leads a work meeting or orders his morning coffee.

Gets you out of bed – It motivates and inspires you at a deep level; this helps you to have the energy when the going gets tough.

No one made less – No one has to be “less than” or “wrong” for you to pursue your Noble Goal; this helps you stay out of ego and power struggle.  

Once again it’s important to remember that pursuing noble goals isn’t about what you will do when you retire or finally have a vacation break. It’s about connecting your every day decisions and actions – that struggle with the teenager included – with this bigger purpose. If your noble goal is to sustain the earth for future generations, how does what you buy for lunch contribute to that goal? If your purpose is spreading love and compassion, how can you do that in your morning meeting or at dinner with your relatives?

So, what do you want to contribute to the world?

And what can you do today to bring that future into the present? One powerful way: Practice emotional intelligence. It’s not enough to have a Noble Goal. To pursue it takes an internal alignment — here’s an introduction to how you can use emotional intelligence:

Where Is the Why?

The bad news is that this sense of a bigger purpose, a critical part of knowing how to be a great leader, is not exactly widespread among, well, leaders. According to the Harvard Business Review, less than 20% of executives have a clear sense of their own individual purpose – and even less than that can distill their purpose into a concrete statement.

Remember that we are here to help in this process – we are a non-profit dedicated to helping people be more emotionally intelligent. It’s the entire purpose of our organization to help people make positive change in their lives – and that means you! And if you want to be supported by like minded practitioners, be sure to participate in our online community on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. There are discussion and support groups, free webinars, articles and more. We could all use a little more positive, thoughtful content in our news feeds. And we put a few articles below that we thought you might like.