The characteristics of a great leader have evolved. The qualities necessary to be an effective manager in today’s business landscape have drastically shifted from those of 20 years ago – Intimidating and berating your employees to get results won’t work anymore (But did it ever?). As a contemporary leader, are you reaching your maximum potential? Here are the 4 qualities that you need to have to be that leader:

1. Focus on EQ instead of IQ. “Intelligence is not the sole source of success” says our Emotional Intelligence Speaker Dr. Travis Bradberry. Sure Gary in IT dabbles with quantum physics in his spare time, but his inappropriate jokes offend his co-workers. Although businesses list “strong interpersonal skills” as an important quality, they are often overlooked by managers. Having a highly intelligent person on the team is great, but if no one wants to work with them because of their thoughtlessness and insensitivity you’ll end up becoming their babysitter – no manager has time to constantly remind their employees to “play nice.”

2. Say No. According to our Innovation Speaker & Author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less Greg McKeown, the most successful leaders know how to strategically prioritize. Modern prioritizing is not simply organizing and ranking your tasks by importance, but actually saying “no” to certain tasks. “Doing it all” is not constructive – it hinders your effectiveness. Just say no and delegate!

3. Inspire those around you. A great leader has a clear understanding of the core values of their company and they model themselves to reflect those values says Our Motivational Speaker, Firefighter, and CNN Hero Robyn Benincasa. A leader who consistently demonstrates excellence and dedication will inspire those around them to follow suit. It will also have a much larger impact on employee behavior than the “Code of Conduct” recorded in the Employee Handbook – reading what is expected of you and actually seeing it in action makes a huge difference!

4. Listen. When Our Leadership Speaker Mike Abrashoff took over as Commander of the USS Benfold Naval War Ship it was one of the most under-performing ships in the Pacific fleet. Morale was low, turnover was high, and the crew had unacceptably low performance evaluations. With the same crew, Abrashoff turned the Benfold into one of the finest ships in the Pacific fleet. How did he do it? He listened. He spoke with the members of the crew and gave them a platform to voice their concerns and opinions, and he used this valuable information to implement changes that boosted morale and performance. Simply listening to your employees will make them feel valued and you will glean insight that you could never get from the quarterly reports.