There is so much written about great Leaders. Their skills, accomplishments, personalities and experiences are analyzed and described for everyone to absorb.

I’ve posted a dozen Tweets in the last month alone, that link to such insights.

Yet, there really are very few great Leaders. Any list of them upon which many could easily agree would need to be quite short. The bar is high to be featured and stretches across Industry, Politics, World Affairs, The Military and even Sports.

It’s generally agreed that at the most simplified level of review, great Leaders:

• Inspire
• Motivate
• Accomplish major results

And typically have a Vision accompanied with a truly Positive outlook.

To aspire to greatness is a worthy goal for anyone and if we can’t all be great leaders, we certainly can often be very accomplished Managers.

Everyone should seek to be who they choose. Everyone should have this right. Yet lofty aspirations need not overshadow your ability to quickly also become a Great Manager, in the short term.

Being successful as a Manager is a likely step on the career path for many professionals. Certainly this steppingstone is something that will help us to grow now, as we prepare and evolve for the future.

Successful (and eventually, Great) Managers develop and demonstrate skills and the ability to:

Communicate and listen

Share leadership role(s) and responsibility(ies)

Support and facilitate

Reward and acknowledge success

Take corrective action when required

Plan, measure and monitor

Actively motivate

Install and operate essential structure(s)

Why don’t you now consider and closely evaluate your own skills in these areas. Take the time to actively write down and score BOTH the skill level you have currently and that you will need to grow (scoring, say: Excellent (E), Average (A) or Poor (P)).

Is it obvious what skills you need to work on? Whatever your role and direction in life, some level of improvement is likely to be necessary in one or several of these areas, above.

Perhaps you might want to speak with trusted colleagues or friends to choose and prioritize development areas? Maybe you can immediately just cut out regular reflection time to plant improvement on these behaviors in your self-image? Perhaps you should always carry a list of key behaviors you wish to embrace? Just remember, without your own specific action such flaws and weaknesses will not likely improve.

Let’s face it; the road to becoming the best Leader you can be is largely paved with the steppingstones that enable you to be a very successful Manager.

If you’ve taken the trouble to find yourself wanting, you can take the next steps. Find ways to embrace, positively improve and eliminate your flaws; learn to adapt, evolve and overcome.

In the end, it’s these small steps and improvements which move you further down the path to becoming that Leader you want to be.