In the last five years, we at CoReCo Technologies have worked with 60+ businesses across industries globally. We not only developed their products & platforms but also helped bring more clarity into their vision and strategy.
For more details about such case studies, visit us at www.corecotechnologies.com and if you would like to convert this virtual conversation into a real collaboration, please write to [email protected].
Vijay Suryawanshi
Co-Founder & VP, Technology
CoReCo Technologies Private Limited
Image by Freepik
Extraordinary leadership isn’t about a title. It’s about the behaviors and attributes that consistently produce exceptional outcomes for teams, organizations, and communities. In this post, I’ve compiled 25 ways to become an extraordinary leader inspired by Zenger & Folkman’s work in The Extraordinary Leader as a quick reference for practicing leaders and anyone aspiring to lead.
Zenger & Folkman are well-known names in organizational and leadership development, and The Extraordinary Leader is one of their most widely read books. On a repeat read, this chapter stood out because it captures practical behaviors that can be applied immediately, without turning leadership into abstract theory.
Are leaders “born” or “made”?
This question will always be debated. My experience aligns with the view shared by Zenger & Folkman in the chapter’s introduction:
-
- Leadership patterns are often established early in life.
- Hard work, perseverance, and determination enable many ordinary people to become strong leaders.
- Leaders are far more “made” than they are “born”.
How do leaders improve themselves?
The chapter outlines 25 ways to become an extraordinary leader by improving the attributes and behaviors that drive exceptional results. Here’s the list, compiled as an easy reference.
- Decide to become a great leader: Leadership is a role with responsibility. Becoming highly effective requires deliberate commitment, intensity, and focus.
- Develop and display high personal character: Character is shaped by behavior over time. A useful chain to remember is: Behavior → Attributes → Character.
- Develop new skills: Growth often happens outside your comfort zone. Invest regularly in skills that expand your leadership range.
- Find a coach: A coach provides objective feedback, guidance, and reflection that is difficult to generate alone.
- Identify your strengths: List your contributions, identify strengths, and build on them. Strength-based development increases both competence and confidence.
- Identify your weaknesses and make them irrelevant: Use delegation, systems, and better work allocation so weaknesses don’t limit outcomes.
- Fix fatal flaws: If a weakness is “fatal” (damaging trust, relationships, or results), address it immediately by learning from real situations.
- Increase the scope of your assignment: Seek work with broader responsibility and impact. Bigger scope accelerates leadership growth.
- Connect with good role models: Learn by observing. You can learn leadership behaviors from anyone, across any domain, and even across eras.
- Learn from mistakes and negative experiences: Mistakes are a high-value learning source when you reflect and improve instead of avoiding them.
- Seek and absorb productive feedback: Keep asking for feedback and learn to process it with emotional maturity. Feedback fuels continuous improvement.
- Learn from work experiences: Build the habit of extracting learning from every project, success, and setback.
- Study the current reality the organization faces: Effective leaders see reality clearly. Encourage candor and be brutally honest with yourself and the team.
- Learn to think strategically: Practice strategic thinking more than tactical execution. Strategy shapes direction; tactics support it.
- Communicate with stories: Stories carry messages with emotional clarity. Collect examples that help you communicate values, priorities, and direction.
- Infuse energy into every situation: Leaders amplify enthusiasm and energy. They create momentum and help others feel possibility.
- Allocate specific time for people development: Developing others strengthens your organization’s long-term capacity and performance.
- Weld your team together: Strong organizations often have leadership teams that collaborate deeply and want colleagues to succeed.
- Build personal dashboards to monitor leadership effectiveness: Decide what “good leadership” looks like for you and track signals that reflect it.
- Plan and execute a change initiative: Define outcomes, implement change, and evaluate results. Leading change is a powerful development path.
- Become a teacher or trainer: Teaching reinforces your own understanding and strengthens your ability to communicate clearly.
- Study high performers and replicate what works: Identify behaviors that drive excellence and adapt them into your own leadership approach.
- Volunteer in your community: Leadership is not limited to the workplace. Being effective across life domains builds “total leadership”.
- Practice articulating your vision: Vision, values, mission, and strategy must be repeated until they’re understood and internalized.
- Prepare for your next role: Think ahead, build skills early, and position yourself to step into greater responsibility smoothly.
Conclusion
-
- All development is self-development.
- The best learning comes from experience.
- Leaders make the biggest strides when they take ownership of their own growth.
In the last five years, we at CoReCo Technologies have worked with 60+ businesses across industries globally. We not only developed their products & platforms but also helped bring more clarity into their vision and strategy.
For more details about such case studies, visit us at www.corecotechnologies.com and if you would like to convert this virtual conversation into a real collaboration, please write to [email protected].
Vijay Suryawanshi
Co-Founder & VP, Technology
CoReCo Technologies Private Limited
Image by Freepik
Extraordinary leadership isn’t about a title. It’s about the behaviors and attributes that consistently produce exceptional outcomes for teams, organizations, and communities. In this post, I’ve compiled 25 ways to become an extraordinary leader inspired by Zenger & Folkman’s work in The Extraordinary Leader as a quick reference for practicing leaders and anyone aspiring to lead.
Zenger & Folkman are well-known names in organizational and leadership development, and The Extraordinary Leader is one of their most widely read books. On a repeat read, this chapter stood out because it captures practical behaviors that can be applied immediately, without turning leadership into abstract theory.
Are leaders “born” or “made”?
This question will always be debated. My experience aligns with the view shared by Zenger & Folkman in the chapter’s introduction:
-
- Leadership patterns are often established early in life.
- Hard work, perseverance, and determination enable many ordinary people to become strong leaders.
- Leaders are far more “made” than they are “born”.
How do leaders improve themselves?
The chapter outlines 25 ways to become an extraordinary leader by improving the attributes and behaviors that drive exceptional results. Here’s the list, compiled as an easy reference.
- Decide to become a great leader: Leadership is a role with responsibility. Becoming highly effective requires deliberate commitment, intensity, and focus.
- Develop and display high personal character: Character is shaped by behavior over time. A useful chain to remember is: Behavior → Attributes → Character.
- Develop new skills: Growth often happens outside your comfort zone. Invest regularly in skills that expand your leadership range.
- Find a coach: A coach provides objective feedback, guidance, and reflection that is difficult to generate alone.
- Identify your strengths: List your contributions, identify strengths, and build on them. Strength-based development increases both competence and confidence.
- Identify your weaknesses and make them irrelevant: Use delegation, systems, and better work allocation so weaknesses don’t limit outcomes.
- Fix fatal flaws: If a weakness is “fatal” (damaging trust, relationships, or results), address it immediately by learning from real situations.
- Increase the scope of your assignment: Seek work with broader responsibility and impact. Bigger scope accelerates leadership growth.
- Connect with good role models: Learn by observing. You can learn leadership behaviors from anyone, across any domain, and even across eras.
- Learn from mistakes and negative experiences: Mistakes are a high-value learning source when you reflect and improve instead of avoiding them.
- Seek and absorb productive feedback: Keep asking for feedback and learn to process it with emotional maturity. Feedback fuels continuous improvement.
- Learn from work experiences: Build the habit of extracting learning from every project, success, and setback.
- Study the current reality the organization faces: Effective leaders see reality clearly. Encourage candor and be brutally honest with yourself and the team.
- Learn to think strategically: Practice strategic thinking more than tactical execution. Strategy shapes direction; tactics support it.
- Communicate with stories: Stories carry messages with emotional clarity. Collect examples that help you communicate values, priorities, and direction.
- Infuse energy into every situation: Leaders amplify enthusiasm and energy. They create momentum and help others feel possibility.
- Allocate specific time for people development: Developing others strengthens your organization’s long-term capacity and performance.
- Weld your team together: Strong organizations often have leadership teams that collaborate deeply and want colleagues to succeed.
- Build personal dashboards to monitor leadership effectiveness: Decide what “good leadership” looks like for you and track signals that reflect it.
- Plan and execute a change initiative: Define outcomes, implement change, and evaluate results. Leading change is a powerful development path.
- Become a teacher or trainer: Teaching reinforces your own understanding and strengthens your ability to communicate clearly.
- Study high performers and replicate what works: Identify behaviors that drive excellence and adapt them into your own leadership approach.
- Volunteer in your community: Leadership is not limited to the workplace. Being effective across life domains builds “total leadership”.
- Practice articulating your vision: Vision, values, mission, and strategy must be repeated until they’re understood and internalized.
- Prepare for your next role: Think ahead, build skills early, and position yourself to step into greater responsibility smoothly.
Conclusion
-
- All development is self-development.
- The best learning comes from experience.
- Leaders make the biggest strides when they take ownership of their own growth.
In the last five years, we at CoReCo Technologies have worked with 60+ businesses across industries globally. We not only developed their products & platforms but also helped bring more clarity into their vision and strategy.
For more details about such case studies, visit us at www.corecotechnologies.com and if you would like to convert this virtual conversation into a real collaboration, please write to [email protected].
Vijay Suryawanshi
Co-Founder & VP, Technology
CoReCo Technologies Private Limited
