Many people want to be leaders so they can run a company or be the head of a campaign. Whatever the reason, not everybody knows how to be a leader.

To be a leader does not necessarily mean that you are the CEO of a major company or the mayor of a town. It means that you are someone that people will look up to, someone who people will follow and someone who is loyal to those who they are leading.

To be a leader you have to be confident. You have to hold your head up high throw your shoulders back and look people in the eye so they can make a connection to you. If you speak too quietly then people won’t be able to hear the fantastic ideas that may be swirling inside your head. If they can’t hear you than how can they believe that you can be their voice when the time comes to speak up? You need to be sure of yourself and believe in yourself so that people will believe in you.

If you want to be a leader then you need to know how to make decisions. When a decision needs to be made but everyone is disagreeing, you need to say “OK here’s what we’re going to do”, and you also need to be able to find a compromise or a way to make the right choice. You need to remember though that even though you are the leader that the followers are smart people too and that they are entitled to say what they want to say and you should listen to their ideas.

You need to be a kind person who cares about the people around you. No one wants to follow a person who is mean and rude so be compassionate and respectful. Would you want to take “orders” from someone who yells at you constantly and never smiles? I wouldn’t.

Don’t break your promises. No one likes it when people break promises. In fact think about it. Right now it time for mayor campaigns and all the candidates make promises that they can’t always keep. Most people hate politicians. Politicians break promises. Need I say more? When you say “I promise” keep to your words.

Work together. Just because you’re the leader does not mean that you don’t have to do anything and it does not mean you have to do everything either. In fact you should only lead when you have to instead of bossing everybody around 24/7. That’s being a natural leader.

Just because you’re a leader does not mean that you have to know everything. Ask questions, it will show people that you are not a big shot boss but a human. If you ask questions than the rest of your team won’t be afraid to ask them to.

These are just a couple of ways to be a good leader and you don’t need to memorize all of them, you just have to believe in yourself and you’ll go far.

Serena Wambura.