Determining for yourself how to be a great leader is not easy. You need to remain disciplined and stay true to your guiding leadership principles. You should know what, how and why about being a good leader.

Admit when you make a bad decision. Even great leaders are wrong sometimes. A great leader can admit to mistakes and speak about them honestly with his employees. It proves you have flaws, like all humans. This might not seem like a great way to lead, but in many cases people are loyal to those that can show humanity.

When choosing people to work for you, try to hire diverse people. You will get a much more expansive range of ideas and perspectives from different age groups, as well as from different educational and cultural backgrounds. Do not hire people that are exactly like you. Your ability to innovate will be severely restricted. Find people that complement each other’s skills and weaknesses.

Don’t assume that your staff can read your mind. Clearly communicate what you expect in all aspects of the job and let your employees know they are free to come to you if they have any questions. If you do this, you won’t have to micro-manage them once the task is theirs.

Promote synergy whenever possible. Have a clear idea on what you would like to personally achieve. Also know exactly what the goals of your business are. They should be aligned and have similarities. You must work on both simultaneously. If you are not able to, you may seem like you do not have enough motivation.

Live up to your claims. As a leader, you are accountable for the actions of your staff as well as your own behavior. Since you’re the leader of your company, your actions and words affect the whole business. Should you find yourself having spoken out of turn or acting negatively, you must set things right. Don’t look to others to fix it for you.

Don’t view your mistakes as a setback. When you make some kind of a mistake, allow them to help you learn what you can do differently next time. Take this advice and put it to work for you. Leadership is a belief in your abilities and exhibiting the confidence to use those abilities to promote, teach and help.

It is important for a leader to be honest. A leader that’s effective will need to be trustworthy as well. As you start working towards being a better leader, you should always work towards showing people how trustworthy and honest you are. When people know that they can trust you, you will gain respect.