Best Qualities a Businessman Must Have

Best Qualities a Businessman Must Have

We all are uniquely wired to do unique works. One can be a great scientist, politician, administrator, or a businessman. Just like any other profession, one needs some basic qualities to be a businessman. The most important quality to be a businessman, as legendary Berkshire Hathaway billionaire Warrant Buffer said in an interview, is to have the strength to speak the truth and convey it effectively to staff, investors, and everyone you deal with.         
The second most important thing is, to be honest with yourself. It means being real to yourself and separating yourself from your personal narrative. It is very natural to be highly optimistic and confident about your product or services. You might think that your product or service is cheap and best, but it might not be the case in reality. If you want to be a great businessman then be ready to accept the reality, because then only you will be able to improvise your products and services to make it better for customers and offer at a reasonable price. Not accepting the reality is more like living in a bubble, which is bound to burst prematurely. 
The nest important quality to be a great businessman is to have confidence. Business is an art of developing quality products, add value to it, and selling it smartly at a good margin. And you need confidence at all these stages to make it happen. The best this about confidence is that it isn’t genetic; you can build your confidence through contextual learning and smart practicing. It is more like building muscles through regular quality exercise. Your level of confidence determines your level of faith in yourself. If you are confident enough, you can achieve the impossible and win the trust of customers and investors.
The fourth quality a businessman should have is the ability to listen attentively. Highlighting the importance of listening, the most loved and admired leader Nelson Mandela said once that it is listening that helped him most in his life. In his own words, he learned the art of listening from his father who was the tribal chief in the village in Africa and used to sit with people in a circle to listen to their point of view before sharing his opinion. Echoing the same, the iconic leadership guru Simon Sink says that the best quality one can have is to speak last. It is best to let everyone speak and then give your opinion in the end. Because this helps you build a strong emotional bond as your act of listening makes them feel important.
We are living in a very complex system designed to boost efficiency and effectiveness in the defined time. So, the fifth important quality a businessman should have is the art of managing time. You have to accept the reality that you simply cannot do everything in a 24x7 routine regularly. Amid so much distraction, you have to learn the art of prioritization and delegation to save time and energy. You have to save some time for things that makes you happy and helps you regain your balance. The 80/20 rule (Pareto principle) applies on time management as well because studies suggest that people spend 80% of their time in things that are not effective, meaning we use just 20% of our time in quality works that affect 80% of the outcome. 
Business isn’t just about bottom-line, but the way you make it happen. The sixth quality a businessman should have is a sense of gratitude. If you want to be a successful businessman then you should spend at least one day without complaining about anything. Doing so will bring you so much of gratitude about the things you have.
It is the dynamism of the present and accordingly charting the future path that makes you a visionary. The seventh quality a businessman should have is to be in the present. The mantra is simple, the past is definite—you know what happened, present continuous—you are living the moment and future indefinite—you don’t know what is going to happen. The best strategy is to learn from the past don’t repeat mistakes in the present and it set the future course of action with desirable flexibility.
Nothing happens in a day, every action takes time to show results. The eighth important quality a businessman should have is patience and consistency. You have to learn about product life-cycle and market variables and plan your actions accordingly. This is the only way to keep yourself motivated and remain productive for a longer period of time. 
You need a sound and stable mind with a healthy body to be a successful businessman. The ninth important quality is to focus on health and sleep for at least 8 hours daily. You simply cannot remain productive if you are ignoring your health.
Last but not the least, is empathy. This quality helps you connect better with people and you mobilize all your resources to serve them the best. Once you have that spirit, no one can stop you in the path of glory.