Qualities of a Leader

I have a friend who has been in business 25 years and has been quite successful.  Recently she has been planning the start of a new non-profit.  I was visiting her last week when she told me she was going to form a board.  For most people this is a process that takes some time in choosing members, thinking about what they want the members to do, etc., so I pictured the beginning of this process in her mind.  Was I totally wrong!  She had already identified the people she wanted, the roles she wanted them to play, the investment she was going to ask for, and she had already approached some.  All in a weekend!  I was amazed.

What I was witnessing were the qualities that are so often written about in books on leadership.  The majority of successful business leaders are able to make fast decisions and implement them immediately.  They do not second guess themselves.  If something goes wrong later they will get it fixed but they know how to act in the present without getting bogged down by the ambivalence that can plague so many of us.