Great personal satisfaction can be obtained through the action of helping others fulfill their potential.  This applies to both the helper and the helpee.

Leaders do many things.  Whether you are a designated leader with a granted power base or you lead from behind larger using earned power helping others is the cornerstone behavioral attribute  (or of course some combination of earned and granted power).

Excellence in Leadership

Many behavioral practices come into play to influence the quality of leadership.  These do not need to be present in equal quantities and in some cases perhaps a particular aspect of emotional intelligence is low or not present at all (e.g., empathy). That is okay.

However, without the ability to facilitate growth in others, you are not a leader ( whether practiced actively or passively).  This is a baseline required behavior of all leaders.

Simply put leadership is not about you, it is solely about others.  The things you impart to others helping raise the potential bar continuously can be self-applied but must at a minimum focus on others first and foremost.

Emotional and Intellectual Intelligence (IQ&EQ)

The quality and effectiveness of a leader can be predicted by the levels of IQ and EQ they demonstrate.  The higher the score in both these categories, the better the overall performance.

Of course, IQ and EQ must be balanced and if individually each does not meet the minimum level (even if one area excels) probably the leader will not be exceptional.

These attributes aside if the aspiring leader does not focus on growing other capabilities they will never achieve greatness in the role of leader.