In my recent post, I mentioned a comment from John Maxwell, a profound leadership expert and renown author. According to Maxwell, there are four key qualities to being highly successful, and they are:

1. RELATIONSHIPS
Firstly, people who are highly successful are good at building relationships and have a way of getting along with people. Good relationship skills are the foundation of both leadership and success. Successful people relate emotionally, spiritually and intellectually with others. Both in the workplace and in their homes, people need to understand and practice the hammer principle: “never use a hammer to swat a fly off someone’s forehead.” In other words, don’t overreact.

2. EQUIP
The second quality of highly successful people is that they equip, train and develop people. Successful people understand that for their success to compound, it must include others. They must have the ability to gain buy-in. One is too small a number to achieve greatness.

3. ATTITUDE
The third quality is attitude. Successful people have an uncommon attitude, especially about adversity. It’s not that they have fewer problems than less successful people; they just have the tenacity to work through obstacles and problems. Maxwell says that “attitude is not everything, but it is the main thing – the difference maker. However, a great attitude cannot make up for incompetence.

4. LEADERSHIP
Fourth, successful people are good leaders. They have a vision, and they understand that leadership is about influence – not title or position. “People can lead wherever they are in the organization,” he said. “They can lead up, across and down.”