Elements that make a top business leader

What makes a successful business leader? Is your definition solely focused on numerical targets? Or is it about building a loyal team that works, grows and innovates together, through good times and bad?

With more than three decades' experience managing large, complex and fast-growing organisations in Asia, Achal Agarwal has given the subject of leadership much thought. Whether you are successful, he says, depends on how you measure and define what success means.

The president of Kimberly-Clark Asia gave his thoughts on the subject in a recent presentation in the Leadership Dialogue Series at NUS Business School.

Among his recommendations: avoid the trap of focusing too much on formulating and defining a strategy. Leadership is about execution - about getting things done and how you go about doing it. His advice is a roll-your-sleeves-up-and-get-stuck-in …