Most of my career, I have sought out expertise on the definition and meaning of leadership. I have read many engaging books on the topic, two of my recent favorites being Bob Iger’s The Ride of a Lifetime and Julie Zhuo’s The Making of a Manager.

I was fortunate this past year to participate in the Leadership in Action program at Harvard University, a leadership program for middle managers. Throughout the year-long experience, I was challenged in many ways and I learned important lessons about negotiation and strategic thinking. But one of the most invaluable experiences was the one-the-one coaching I received as part of the program. In my first session, my coach challenged me to define leadership for myself. Now this was a new idea to me! I could write my own definition of leadership? It had never occurred to me, for I had always sought out external expertise. She asked me to think about what characteristics made an impact on my own career, and what I would want to offer my own team.

Before this experience, I had bought into a single definition of leadership. But I then realized it was the harmony of many characteristics that makes a great leader.

Here are the characteristics that I feel define a great leader.

Trust: You cannot bring out the best in others without trusting them. I operate under the default of trusting my team from the get-go.

Honesty: I am transparent as much as possible and always speak my truth. I am true to my word.

Excellence: This one can be tricky, because perfectionism is the enemy of excellence. We all make mistakes, but we must strive to do our best.

Compassion: We are all human and I am empathetic to others’ life experiences.

Mutual respect: Under no circumstances will I ever disrespect someone on my team. We are all deserving of dignity, and the work place is no different.

I’m sure this definition will morph over the years, I may add new characteristics that stand out to me as time passes. But for now, these ideals represent what I want in my manager, and how I hope to inspire and motivate my team.