# 1 Quality of Successful Leaders
A successful leader is an influencer who can inspire, motivate and get the best out of their people. A leader’s primary responsibility is to lead, and the foundation for great leadership is trust.
Here I would like to share with you the one quality of successful leaders that I have observed in every successful CEO or executive I have coached.
Average leaders do not reach great heights because once you begin to break small commitments, you make it your habit and then soon you will break bigger commitments to yourself, to people at your work and now you will not even feel guilty about it. Success demands commitment.
The one quality of successful leaders that gets them to where they are is their habit of constantly being committed. To themselves and to others.
Commitment is the willingness to do whatever it takes to fulfill and follow through on your own responsibilities. It means that you are willing to go forward , to take your step and to complete your actions regardless of the situation .
Successful leaders and entrepreneurs whom I coach are incredibly committed. They commit to something, to themselves and to others , they will rarely cancel it. You will rarely see them breaking that commitment. When you fulfill your commitments, when you go out of the way and even deliver your commitments, you care to give a very very powerful and strong message to yourself and to others around you that you value people, you value their time and work. You are giving them a message that you are a person who will go ahead and fulfill what you say. When you keep or don’t keep your commitments, people around you are gauging you and they are going to do business with you, they are going to help you to progress, they are going to put your name in the list to move ahead only on the basis that are you a person who keeps your commitment or breaks your commitment.
Are you a person who keeps your word consistently? Are you a person who will follow through and keep your commitment regardless of whatever happens?
Learn to say NO. When you have given commitments to people, to things, to yourself, then learn to say NO to everyone else around you. Most of us say YES to everyone because we don’t want to make everyone unhappy at our workplace and eventually you are going to land up breaking some of the commitments. Once you have stuff on your calendar, you block it and say no to someone else and you move forward in keeping the commitment. Its going to make you feel so satisfied and fulfilled from within. Second, go the extra mile. If for any reason you are not able to keep the commitment, you are not able to follow through, something has truly happened that pulls you out of your commitment, then make sure you give enough advance notice to that person .Once you have sent that message, please do not stop there. It becomes very easy to just send a message to someone and say I’m sorry I am not able to be there. But have you ever realized that that person has canceled someone else , has put you on priority and blocked their calendar just for you and when you don’t show up, there is a broken trust , there is a broken relationship. To mend that relationship, make sure you go the extra mile.
Your integrity, your character come out when you are going ahead and honoring even the worst commitments that you made. When you make it a habit to honor all your commitments as much as possible, even the worst ones, you are setting yourself up to be a highly impactful leader.
I hope this helps in your journey. Share + practice + debate this with your teams and tell me your learnings.
Your Friend + Mentor
Payal Nanjiani
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ABOUT PAYAL:
Payal has coached some of the top industry leaders in the world. For almost 21 years, well-known organizations in the world, ranging from CISCO, SAS, METLIFE, DELOITTE, BLACKROCK & INTEL have chosen Payal for their most important leadership development events. Universities like IIT, AIMS & NC STATE invite Payal for their events and guest lectures.
To connect with Payal Nanjiani drop a line at success@payalnanjiani.com
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