There are a couple of qualities that I think are integral to leadership. The first is that a leader should always lead by example. In modern business there is no shortage of platitudes, acronyms, fancy and fun phrases like "fast, fun and focused" to help motivate the employees. But if you yourself aren't any of those things, how can you expect anyone you manage to be? The second is to manage to the individual and not the group whenever possible. Everybody has different motivating factors, different abilities and different shortcomings. The worst managers I've ever had have managed negatively to the group. Meaning if our aggregate numbers were down we all got a collective tongue lashing, even those who were individually excelling. -the result of this style of management is that the most capable people leave and find more positive places to work and those that are less capable (meaning less employment opportunities) stay behind. It can have quick, long lasting horrible consequences for a business.
Thanks, yeah, those are really great insights. The pithy sayings really aren't that helpful, that's true. My boss tells me a (hypothetical) story of the big, mean manager coming into the conference room and slamming his fist down on the table and saying, "Alright people, we've all got to get creative!" What does that even mean, right?