Business leadership is a very important part of getting anything done and making any money. Without great leadership, even the best of the top performers can only do their jobs at half their potential. People may work hard with or without anyone else around, but a great leader makes good workers into great ones and great workers into juggernauts. But not all "leaders" really live up to that title, as genuine leadership is extremely hard to find. However, it does exist, and the following are a few ways you can reliably find it.

Being a Planner

Very few people will succeed in a leadership role without having the ability to plan ahead. Planning ahead means more than just deciding what you are going to do tomorrow, though. It involves planning as far as ten to twenty years ahead, and making sure that what you do today feeds your goals within that time frame. To say this is challenging is a serious understatement, but no one ever said that leadership was easy.

Working Hard

To inspire hard work, a great leader needs to be a hard worker. While this does not necessarily need to be mean he or she does the bulk of the work, a great leader is never afraid of getting their hands dirty and handling something personally. Leaders have to be the first people to arrive and the last ones to leave, even if that means not getting much sleep. Leadership can be downright lonely, but it requires doing what needs to be done.

Being Understanding

Understanding other people does not simply mean listening to an endless series of sob stories with an appropriately stoic look on one's face. Understanding other people also involves knowing what best motivates a particular person. Understanding others also means knowing when two personalities should not work together, and sometimes it involves finding creative ways to keep two people separated but still working efficiently. The better a leader understands people and how they think, the better he or she will be able to motivate and inspire them to work at their best capacity.

Admitting Responsibility

A great leader is a responsible person, both when things go well and when they fall apart. A great leader will admit when he or she is wrong and accept the flak that comes from such an admission. Often, this is the most challenging part of leadership, because sometimes the only mistake a leader makes is putting the wrong person in an important place and accidentally enduring another person's errors. Ultimately, all roads lead to the true leader.