Great leaders create an organizational culture built on these two core values and hold all employees accountable to them. Without honesty and integrity as fundamental cornerstones of an organization, they will rarely succeed long term. And creating such a culture starts at the top of the organization. Everyone watches the leader and takes their cues as to what is acceptable behavior.
A leader must understand their own strengths and weaknesses. All of us have faults and instinctive behaviors that produce unintended results and/or consequences. It is critical for a leader to really know themselves, admit their shortcomings and ask for their help in addressing them. This demonstrates humility and humanizes the leader. No one is perfect and if a leader acts like they are, they will lose credibility and trust. In the worst case they will be seen as arrogant and intimidating.
Outstanding leaders see the whole picture and do not get too focused on specific tasks or initiatives. They have deep knowledge of related industries/organizations and are seen as strategic thinkers. They often have strong networks and consistently identify important trends early in their life cycle. They are very good at communicating a vision of the future and getting organizational buy-in.
Confidence and commitment are both important qualities in a leader. However, these are not the same, and there are important differences between these two qualities.
Confidence is a quality of leadership that indicates that the leader in question is sure of his abilities. Leaders who are confident trust their instincts, and they feel like they usually know what the best course of action is. Moreover, leaders who are confident usually do not doubt their actions much. An example of a confident leader could be Winston Churchill, as his actions were generally decisive and he doubted himself very little.
On the other hand, commitment is a quality that is best reflected in the way the leader treats others. A committed leader will usually fight tirelessly for what he believes to be right. He will also stay with a movement or a group of people in difficult times. An example of a leader who exhibited great commitment would be Martin Luther King Jr.
