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Apart from having a grand vision, many important qualities go into making a true leader. But it is not easy to say what those qualities are.

Author Antoine de Saint-Exupery said, "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up the men to go to the forest to gather wood, saw it and nail the planks together. Instead teach them a desire for the sea."

Today I would like to discuss two very different types of people.  One is the leader and the other is the manager. Leaders and managers seem to be similar, but they are in fact different. Totally different. 

Leaders and managers have distinct characteristics. Managers seek order and control, and thrive on complexity. Leaders, on the other hand, deal with change - change in both attitude and culture. 

If you spend most of your time on planning and budgeting, organising and staffing, and controlling and problem solving, sorry, but you are only a manager. 

But if you spend your time on setting direction, coaching, mentoring, aligning and inspiring people, congratulations, you are well on the way to becoming a leader.

Let us look at the direction-setting aspect of leadership. Leaders have to gather a broad range of data and explore patterns, relationships and linkages, which will help build vision and strategy.  Once the vision and strategy are in place, the leader must turn to those who will be involved in implementing the strategy and realising the vision - the people in the organisation. 

Most organisations face people problems such as the difficulty of getting people to move in the same direction. Communication is the first challenge because a leader's communication style must be able to get people to comprehend the vision and strategy.

Then, in order to direct their activities to realise the vision, the leader must coach them. Finally, team-building and people stimulation can overcome people problems, which are somewhat different. 

Energising people through motivation and inspiration eventually leads to fulfilling the vision.

The trick is to satisfy basic human needs, values and emotions. This requires recognition of performance and rewarding people by celebrating their achievements and reinforcing business aspiration. 

These are called transactional and transformational competencies, and are essential in a leader.

As Vince Lombardi put it, "Leaders aren't born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work."