You Want to Be a Leader? Here Are 3 Qualities I Look For

So, you want to be a leader? You sure? You want to take on the weighty responsibility of caring for others? You want to own and be accountable for the success or failure of the team now? You want to take on that risk?

It’s going to come with some stress. If you’re right for leadership, it’s going to come with waking up some mornings, sometimes on the weekends, thinking and worrying about those in your charge who are falling behind. As the leader, you’re out there on that wobbly limb. All eyes are on you.

These are the things I look for when considering who to promote into leadership.

Hard Decision Making. Why do people struggle to make hard decisions? Because they come with consequences. The leader is accountable to those consequences, and that makes decision making scary. Which is why I love leaders who aren’t afraid to make them. When we don’t have the courage to make hard decisions, all we’re doing is transferring that responsibility to our boss. We give up the value we bring to the table. Do the work, get close to the issue, lay out the pros and cons, then make the hard decision. The willingness to do that is invaluable to me.

Strategic Bets. Business is not static. The future is ever evolving. What worked five years ago may not work today. However, regardless of this uncertainty, growth is still required from the leader. This requires strategic bets. Showing up and running the same old plays is not enough. Becoming a student of your market, understanding new trends, getting close to your customers, and studying your competition, will start to give you a point of view on the future. From there, it’s up to you to make your bets on how to achieve future growth. Otherwise, you’re on a path to irrelevance.

Simplifying Complex Problems. Problems can take on a life of their own. There are extenuating circumstances, complexities, tons of backstory, valid excuses, big words, acronyms nobody knows, and scary, overinflated risk. The leaders I love around me are the ones who can put all those distractions to the side and cut right to the heart of an issue. Problem solving becomes simple as they break things down for everyone to understand. Any smart person can make others feel dumb and insecure as they show off their knowledge of the issues. But people don’t want to follow that person. The really smart leader knows how to speak simply—never over someone’s head—and develop a following of people who want to solve tough problems together. They don’t lose sight of the bigger picture and get to the right answer quickly.

Of course there are other factors—all of them important. But in today’s environment, these are the traits I value most. How do you stack up? If leadership or senior leadership is something you are considering, which trait do you need to grow?

So, are you still in for it? If so, great. It’s the best decision you’ll ever make. Yes, it’s hard. Yes, you’ll have to give away all the credit when things go well and accept all blame when they don’t. But you’ll be moved to tears the first time someone on your team hits that huge goal they’ve been working so hard to achieve. Their joy will be your joy. You’ll experience a new feeling of accomplishment when you see your team start to come together and win together. That accomplishment will give you a kind of confidence you’ve never felt before. Because you’ll know that it was YOU who had the courage to step up. It was you had the guts to walk into the arena. It was you who the team looked to for answers when the wolf was at the door. And even though you were just as scared, it was you who struck out ahead anyway and said, “Follow me.”

Bert Bean is CEO at Insight Global. Taking the top seat in 2018, he has been with the company since 2005. Under his leadership, Insight Global has doubled in revenue in the last seven years and now has more than 5,500 employees across 70-plus offices and technology delivery centers in North America, Europe, and Asia. Bean’s relentless focus on growing his people personally, professionally, and financially has played a key role in the company’s growth.

Check out Bert’s April 2025 appearance (episode #631) with Sam Kaufman, CRO at Insight Global, on the Ryan Hawk podcast The Learning Leader Show. They dig deep into “Obsession, Grit, Growth Mindset, Winning in a Tough Market, Hiring for Potential, Running Ultra-Marathons, and Caring for Your People.”