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There are many people who want to be leaders but they have no clue of the character traits that one must possess to take on a responsibility of this magnitude. Unfortunately, it is not until after being in the position for a while that they discover that they are not doing things right and they then want to do something about it. By then, employees are disgruntled, projects are incomplete, revenue has the potential of being lost, and the respect for this so-call leader has vanished.

I firmly believe that in order for someone to find their leadership style, they must first examine themselves. Ask the questions: Am I cut out to be a leader? How well do I get along with others? Can I handle criticism? Am I capable of handling pressure? Do I have acquired knowledge of the project that I want to lead? By asking these self-evaluating questions, a person can determine if they really want to be a leader and if they do, they can begin the process of building their leadership style based on their answers.
The task of managing people can be whatever one wants it to be. Some view it as daunting while others view it as just the opposite. Based on my experience as a manager and a leader, some characteristics that I think are key to this responsibility are tolerance, flexibility, persistency, and loyalty.
As a leader, your tolerance level has to be high in order to deal with the many challenges that will arise. You will have to deal with people who feel that you can't tell them anything because they think that they are always right, people who will procrastinate on the responsibilities assigned to them, people who will purposely deceive you, and people who will always complain about a problem but will never offer a solution. With a high tolerance level, you will be able to signal these issues ahead of time, think about ways to bring about resolutions, and implement strategies to curtail them all together or at least minimize their occurrences. I like to call it, "Putting your foot down."
Flexibility is important in the role as a leader or manager because it shows how much you can handle at one given time. As a leader or manager, you are multi-tasking and if the ability is not there to deal with a crises, reward a team member, or submit that final paper work for a project all at are about the same time, you will become overwhelmed, frustrated, and none-productive. This is why time management is so important. Don't put off what you can do today until tomorrow.
Persistency

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