The 14 Leadership Traits, Part II

For those that are just joining us, this is part II of my Leadership Traits series, in which I cover the 14 Leadership Traits of the U.S. Marines. In Part I we covered Justice, Judgment, and Dependability. It’s time for 3 more…Initiative, Decisiveness, and Tact.

4. Initiative: Initiative is a pretty simple concept but it will make or break a leader. It’s the first thing I look for in a leader; initiative is like the foundation of leadership and you cannot be a successful leader without it. Quite simply, Initiative is taking action even though you haven’t been told to do so. You can’t be afraid to screw up; you can always ask forgiveness later, but if you’re always waiting to be told what to do you’re going to miss a lot of opportunities to act. Initiative comes in many forms and involves a complete understanding of goals. If your boss asks you to write a report, for instance, and you understand the purpose of the report, initiative is adding sections to the report that you weren’t told to add, but you think would help to address the purpose of the report. If you ever want to break into management at your company you absolutely must develop initiative.

To improve your initiative, work on staying physically and mentally alert. Be aware of things that need to be done and then do them without having to be told.

5. Decisiveness: Decisiveness is making good decisions without delay. It means you gather the available facts, and arrive at a decision quickly; once you make a decision you act on it with all your ability and resources and you don’t waver unless you find a better solution. Decisiveness involves finding that balance between time and information; knowing when taking anymore time to make a decision will be a detriment to your goal(s). In many situations you may not feel that you have all the information you need to proceed; to be decisive, you have to understand that you’ll never have all the information and in many cases it’s better to act than to delay in hopes of gathering more. If found a great quote:

“In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” - Theodore Roosevelt

Practice being positive in your actions instead of acting half-heartedly or changing your mind on an issue.

6. Tact: Tact means that you deal with people in a respectful manner. Without tact, you’ll have difficulty being a great leader because people won’t respect you. There is a fine line between being tactful and being overly cautious in your dealings with other people. Remember, as a leader, it’s not important that people like you, but it is important that they respect you. Show them the same respect you expect from them.

Begin to develop your tact by trying to be courteous and cheerful at all times. Treat others as you would like to be treated.

In the next segment I’ll cover Integrity, Enthusiasm, and Bearing.

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