What Makes a Good leader?

Ten essential leadership skills for men.

The Crisis of Modern Leadership

Everywhere you look in our day and age, men hesitate to lead. In politics, business, or even within the Church, many have bought into the lie that leadership is about power, ego, or control, so they retreat into passivity and comfort instead of facing the risk of being called “toxically masculine”. This has led to a great crisis in leadership among men: we are not becoming the leaders God needs us to become.

A good leader is the man who carries the weight that no one else will, the man who stands firm when things get hard, who brings order to chaos, who chooses truth over approval.

In this article, we’ll look at ten essential leadership skills every man must develop to lead well, whether that’s in his home, at work, or in his community. These are not abstract theories or a surface-level corporate presentation on vanilla “leadership”, but real principles drawn from Scripture, history, and personal experience.

The world is desperate for the leadership of strong, God fearing men. Because if we don’t own up and lead our people towards Christ, someone else will lead them down the wide road of perdition.

Ten Essential Leadership Skills for Men

10. Faithful Vision

As a leader, everything starts with the direction you’re walking towards. How can you lead others if you don’t even know where you’re heading? Vision is the ability to believe in a better future and inspire others towards it by making a commitment to pursuing it.

This vision needs to come from a place of humility and honesty so as not to become an unrealistic dreamer, but the specific future you imagine isn’t the most important aspect. What matters most is that you actually know where you want to go, so the people around you feel safe that they are moving towards somewhere, and that that somwehere is good.

How to practice this skill: write down your 3–5 year vision across all important areas of your life (professional, spiritual, family life, etc.) The goal is to decide where you want to be in the future. Do this after praying for discernment and let the Holy Spirit work in you.

9. Self-Mastery and Self-Denial

It’s very difficult to trust the leadership of someone who’s erratic, undisciplined, and inconsistent. The foundation of authority is virtue, most specifically, the virtues of temperance, justice and prudence. All the other virtues matter too, but these ones give a man the self-control necessary to communicate trust and competence, so that the people who follow him can rest on his leadership.

Like a city breached, without walls, is one who lacks self-control.
— Proverbs 25:28

How to practice this skill: fast frequently, perform acts of asceticism and self-denial, and challenge yourself to live without some of the precious comforts that you feel disorderly attached to for a time.

8. Courage

It’s part of the job description for any leader to face incredible pressure. One of the heaviest kinds of pressure is the pressure to conform or lie to avoid hurting sensibilities. And while some diplomacy in leadership is definitely desirable, it can quite easily become cowardice. Similarly to the previous skills, a man who lacks the courage to stand up for his beliefs is a man who communicates no confidence to those who follow him.

Moral courage is what sets great men apart, and our times are desperate for men who dare to stand behind their values through thick and thin, even if the world disagrees. Like Daniel in Babylon, and like all the thousands of martyrs and saints who’ve given their lives for truth, good leaders need uncommon courage to perform their God-given duty wisely.

How to practice this skill: ask yourself in which situations you’re acting out of fear of criticism and choose to act courageously the next time you’re in them.

7. Clarity in Communication

A big part of being a leader is being a provider of order and clarity. Learning to communicate your ideas, values, beliefs, and expectations clearly is not only useful but absolutely necessary to avoid chaos and confusion.

There’s a reason why leadership training always places such a big emphasis on clarity: if a leader is incapable to communicate roles, tasks, expectations, and risks clearly to those who follow him, things won’t move forward.

Clarity in communication is especially powerful (and necessary) nowadays, given how strongly language has been infiltrated by the forces of confusion and chaos. Subjectivity and individualism have made it difficult to be precise, but this just means it’s even more important to make an effort to speak the truth clearly and without hesitating.

How to practice this skill: Start being aware of how you communicate, and be mindful to always do it with precision. Avoid vague, undefined phrases and try to be specific. Ask “am I being clear?” to make sure that people are understanding what you’re saying. If not, rephrase it in a way that is more clear. Make of this a habit.