Contrary to popular opinion, few men are born with leadership skills. Most leaders acquire them through a combination of luck and experience. In this article, I'd like to share four key leadership skills with you.

Have A Clear And Decisive Vision

Leaders know who they are and where they are going. Don't worry if you don't know that yet. What's important is that you work on it over the next few weeks and decide on a plan. All leaders and all strong men have a plan and they don't waver from it.

Find out what makes you tick and set yourself some new personal goals. Then go about doing everything you need to in order to achieve them.

A leader with a strong personal vision will be highly respected. Successful companies work because the vision of the chairman is then shared by everyone else in the organisation. If you also show this same decisiveness about pursuing the goals of the organisation then, again, you will get respect for this.

PMA

PMA stands for positive mental attitude. A lot of cynical people will scoff at talk of being positive but the facts speak for themselves. Successful people are positive. Losers are negative. Which do you want to be in life?

If you stay positive and see the bright side of things then your workers will respect you much more. Maybe we're heading into a global recession as I write. So what will you do about it? Will you be all doom and gloom and moan about it? Or will you be positive and be thankful for what you have and see that there are still plenty of opportunities?

If you are positive then this will spread like an infection to your workers.

Motivate Others To Achieve Their Potential

A great leader is able to connect with his workers in such a way that he brings out the best in them. You can do this by talking about common interests and showing a little of what makes you tick.

As a leader, you can never truly be "one of the gang" and you always have to maintain a little distance. But get as close as you can and people will want to work hard for you.

Show gratitude to your workers and they will want to please you. But you should also connect on an individual level with your team and show that you really care. Take an interest in each person and ask about their personal life without intruding.

Workers don't care if they let down an organisation but if they know you well, they won't want to let you down.

Self Improvement

Never stop learning. No one in the world knows it all. The world changes every day so keep abreast of what is happening and continue to develop yourself.

Whether it's your public speaking, your abilities to negotiate, your self confidence, your coaching skills, learning a new language or anything else - there is always room for improvement in everyone.

Get into the habit of continual learning and it will become a normal part of your life and you will benefit greatly from it.