What/who makes a great leader?

A friend recently asked this question for her Masters. These were my thoughts; what are yours?

I'll start with what qualities I think make an effective and great leader. 

Back to Leadership Calgary; 

• Must have wisdom, not just knowledge which I think is really misunderstood, so they must be adept at anticipating what needs to be done and then finding solutions to get it done. 
• They must know their strengths and weaknesses and have others with different view point on their ‘team’ to assist and fill the gaps where they cannot. 
• A willingness to always consult and listen to others but able to stand by their beliefs and make a decision, even if it goes against popular opinion. 
• The ability to admit mistakes made by both themselves and others without blaming, rather a focus on correcting errors. 
• The ability to articulate a vision and to inspire others to do better. 
• They have abundant people skills although this does not always mean that a leader has to be socially likable...they understand that you must engage people and understand people. 

Some who I consider to be great leaders:

Barbara Coloroso. I admire her ability to understand truth and discipline perhaps either in-spite of or because of her religious influence....???She evokes a sense of passion in so many to better understand humanity and to care deeply about one another because we MUST do so. 

Ken Low (Action studies, Leadership Calgary). I have met so many of the great Leaders who I could list here through Leadership Calgary and because of a vision that Ken Low has brought to life. He has what seems to be almost a compelling duty to share his wisdom with others and through that we are learning how to be better human beings by understanding and learning from ‘our’ past; both our successes and our failures and by anticipating, discussing and setting into action what needs to be done in the future.