What Makes A Good Leader?

I had a discussion with my girlfriend not too long ago about what our expectations were in choosing a good leader. I have realised that different workers have very different demands from their leaders or managers. Take for example, as a worker, how would you want your boss to gain your respect? Or as a boss, how would you want to gain your colleague's respect? Expectations differ from worker to worker and from boss to boss. Its a very delicate skill for someone to be both a good boss and also a well liked boss. I guess that's why such bosses are hard to find.Managers are often known to take the praise for jobs that were not done by themselves. I have also heard of managers who would push the blame to their subordinates whenever they were in need of scapegoats. Sad to say, I think that this scenario has become an "acceptable" norm.

But at the end of the day, I believe that a boss's job should not just entail delegation and management. I think that at the end of the day, a good boss should not only give their subordinates due praise for their job well done, but also, to absorb the blame for their failures. I feel that senior management will sit up and look out for middle management who show such attributes. That's because bosses with such attributes would naturally have the respect and friendship of their staff and naturally these are the people that would lead any company in the right direction.

What does everyone else think?

Fazil: A good manager blames himself because it is in doing so that he finds something he can improve. I don't think it's so much as blame as it is taking responsibility for failure. If a manager chooses to delegate a task to a subordinate, then he will have to bear the responsibility of how well that particular task was completed. And as such, though praising his subordinate for a job well done, his own superiors will view it as a job well done for himself as well.

Open for Discussion till 8th of June 2007