Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others. 
—Jack Welch

We often hear that a leader is a person who has a larger vision and perception of the business. Leadership is an essential skill that can be developed with conscious efforts. The belief that leaders are made has outdone the belief that leaders are born. In today's era, where everything you aspire for can be attained with consistent effort, it only holds that everything is possible with practice. 

So, what are these qualities that differentiate a boss from a leader? Let's take a quick look at the top 5 such skills.

1. It's a lot about the team:
Collaboration is the key to getting much work done. To tie the teams together by instilling a sense of togetherness and belongingness is the critical onus of a leader. It's a given that when multiple minds come to work, there are possibilities of strife and differences. But a true leader can resolve them with attentive listening and sound decision-making abilities. As a leader, you must also invest in your team's growth. Stand by them in distress, lending a hand to the team to become independent and sharing the failures to achieve success is what sets you apart.

2. Wear the critical thinking cap:
It's good to be all-motivating and encouraging. But as a leader, you must also be able to critically analyse every action, which will help you have a clear vision. Understanding a situation, process, and people from different dimensions will sharpen your thoughts from which ideas stem. With critical thinking, you will be able to build roadmaps with precision. It will enhance your conceptualizing, applying, evaluation, and decision-making in the long term.

3. Innovation as an influential agenda:
Creating ideas starts in everything you do. As a leader, you will be expected to develop a problem-solving mindset. Problem-solving is not limited to resolving issues and moving on but also to improvising how things are done. Sometimes, the word 'innovation' is considered to be some breakthrough though that's not always the case. Breakthrough can be in the simplest of things, including how an invoice is billed to how workflows operate between teams. You have to spot the loopholes and consistently fix them for better results.

4. Ethics and integrity:
A leader is not someone who imposes ideas and knowledge. A leader is a person who is compassionate, uplifting, and has solid, reliable support. We all look up to our favourite leaders. The reason is that we know they will not be wrong and are not corrupt in their intentions. In every situation as a leader, you must uphold your integral values and not budge from unethical practices.

5. Communicate, communicate:
It is an established fact that communication is critical to being a good leader. But when we say communication, it is not limited to extensive verbal talks. As a leader, you will have to interact with multiple levels at different hierarchal levels and pass it all in between. How you do that concisely is a determining factor. Good communication comes from practising it consistently and with everyone. You must be aware of keeping the team or management informed and revealing relevant information.

Many more skills can always be added to amplify the journey. Some are flexibility, a go-getting attitude, planning, time management, etc. If you're looking to start, go by what is stated. Remember, the key to becoming a good leader is constant practice.