Three Things You Need to Become a Better Leader

In truth, there’s no universal blueprint. Context matters. But across sectors, roles, and personalities, there are three qualities that consistently separate the average from the excellent: humility, an understanding of risk, and the ability to inspire.

Let’s explore each of these.

Humility: You Don’t Need All the Answers

Humility in leadership is often misunderstood. It doesn’t mean downplaying your abilities or shying away from responsibility. Rather, it means recognising your limits—and leaning into the strength of others to fill the gaps.

Great leaders don’t pretend to have all the answers. Instead, they ask better questions. They seek input, listen actively, and learn continuously. They hire people who are more skilled than they are in specific areas and then create the conditions for those people to thrive.

Think of the strongest leaders you’ve worked with or admired. Chances are, they weren’t the loudest voices in the room. They were the ones who made space for others to speak, who took ownership of their mistakes, and who celebrated their team’s success rather than claiming it for themselves.

In practice, humility means:

• Delegating well: Trusting others to deliver without micro-managing.
• Being open to challenge: Encouraging disagreement and different perspectives, especially when it’s uncomfortable.
• Admitting what you don’t know: Modelling curiosity and a commitment to lifelong learning.

As Jim Collins writes in Good to Great, the most effective leaders combine “personal humility with professional will.” They care more about the mission than about being right. And that’s a powerful combination.

Understanding Risk: Leadership Requires Judgement Under Pressure

Every leadership decision is, in some way, a bet on the future. Whether you're deciding to expand into a new market, invest in product development, or restructure your team, you're weighing risks and rewards. And your ability to understand risk—not avoid it—is crucial to making good decisions.

Too many leaders treat risk like a dark cloud: something to minimise, manage, or ignore. But better leaders understand it as a natural, even necessary, part of progress. They ask: What are the risks of action? But also, what are the risks of inaction?

This kind of thinking takes more than gut instinct. It requires:

• Clarity of purpose: Knowing your vision and values helps you assess whether a risk is worth taking.
• Situational awareness: Understanding the internal and external forces that could affect outcomes.
• Comfort with uncertainty: Making decisions even when the data isn’t complete, the path isn’t clear, and the stakes are high.

Understanding risk doesn’t mean eliminating failure. It means being thoughtful about which risks to take and building a culture where learning from setbacks is expected and safe.

In fact, some of the most admired business leaders are those who’ve failed—and recovered. What separates them is how they processed risk, how they prepared for it, and how they responded when things didn’t go to plan.

Leadership without risk is like sailing without wind. Progress depends on movement. And movement means accepting the possibility of change, turbulence, and occasional wrong turns.

The Ability to Inspire: Getting People to Want What You Want

Leadership is about getting people to do the things you need them to do—not because they have to, but because they want to. This is where inspiration comes in.

You can be a strategic genius. You can have excellent operational control. But if you can’t inspire, you’ll struggle to motivate, to align people around a common purpose, and to sustain performance over time.

To inspire doesn’t mean delivering TED Talk-style speeches (although great communication helps). It means connecting people’s day-to-day work to something meaningful. It means showing up with authenticity. It means leading with passion and conviction.

There are a few ingredients to this:

• Clarity of vision: People want to follow a leader who knows where they’re going—and why it matters.
• Emotional connection: People want to feel seen, heard, and valued. Leaders who understand people’s motivations can unlock extraordinary commitment.
• Consistency in values and behaviour: Inspiration fades fast when leaders say one thing and do another. Consistency builds trust, and trust inspires loyalty.

Inspirational leadership also requires vulnerability. You can’t fake it. When leaders share their purpose, their struggles, and their aspirations openly, they invite others to care deeply too.

Consider this: when someone says, “I’d follow her anywhere,” they’re not talking about competence alone. They’re talking about belief. Better leaders make people believe—in themselves, in their work, and in a shared future worth striving for.

The Leadership Journey

Becoming a better leader isn’t about hitting a static set of targets or acquiring a fixed toolkit. It’s a journey—often uncomfortable, always evolving. And while many leadership programmes focus on technical skills or organisational theory, it’s the more human traits that often make the biggest difference.

If you want to lead better, start with these three questions:

• Where can I practice more humility?
• How can I improve my understanding of risk?
• What am I doing to inspire those around me?

The answers won’t come all at once. But asking these questions regularly will sharpen your judgement, deepen your relationships, and build the kind of leadership that lasts.

In a world that’s moving faster than ever, leadership rooted in humility, grounded in reality, and fuelled by inspiration is not just a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic advantage.

Better leadership starts here. And it starts with you.

Photo by Olena Kamenetska on Unsplash