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The 5 Cs of Leadership Development
The 5 Cs
There are five important qualities that all leaders posses, and they are all present at the time a child starts to
play with others. As the child grows, the characteristics start to take shape and help lead him or her to their
ultimate leadership roles. These five qualities are confidence, creativity, compassion, courage, and conviction or
charisma.
Confidence
A true leader instinctively knows how to lead. Of course, this is a leadership development quality that must be
practiced, attempted, and refined throughout someone’s life. However, knowing they can lead their team to victory
or knowing they can organize and meet the monetary goal for the charity sale is the sign on a true leader. In
addition, if there is an argument over who should be leader, a good leader knows to step back; it is sometimes
through the perception of others that they will gain ultimate leadership.
Creativity
Leadership development involves a great deal of creativity. A true leader is not afraid to try to new things. The
lead car sales representative may not be the one who sells the most cars; he may be the one that sells only two
very expensive cars. There is something to be gleaned from that analogy. He or she knows how to use the available
energy.
Compassion
Compassionate leadership development is necessary in today’s workforce. Gone are the days where employees work for
decades at the same company, regardless of the conditions. Today, employers deal with single parents, expensive
childcare, sick children, no insurance, and poverty level conditions. A leader is the workforce who cannot or does
not show compassion toward employees and their dependents will soon find themselves a leader of none.
Courage
Very early in leadership development is the courage to stand up for what you believe in. A leader has a passion—and
can embrace the sympathy of others to follow that passion. Of course, leaders are not all perfect people—there are
many leaders (i.e. Charles Manson) who are very bad people, but they were fantastic leaders. There are also very
effective leaders in every war—they are not liked or celebrated, but they had the courage to fight for their
beliefs.
Conviction or Charisma
Leadership development also includes the ability to charm a crowd, one person at a time. Whether campaigning for
human rights, same sex marriages, or free speech, an effective leader knows how to charge the audience. Many
religious leaders exercise leadership development skills through song and verse to incite the audience to their
cause.
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