There are many qualities that make up a leader, but no doubt the most important is their ability to lead. A leader needs to inspire others by setting goals and inspiring people to achieve them, they need the discipline to stay on course with these goals, and they must be clear on their vision of success. For some leaders, this means leading by example but for others, it means motivating people through their speeches or getting involved in decision making. And while all of these skills are important, what really sets apart the best leaders from everyone else is an unerring belief in their own greatness combined with confidence. And when it comes to feeling confident, there are few ways better than demonstrating leadership in public.

Four public figures who do this best:

Jacques Chirac, President of France: Chirac is a very experienced and effective leader. But while many people think of him as a leader who never makes mistakes, he is also known for his doubting self-confidence. He knows how to look good in the media and knows what words to use for each occasion. And while he does not always seem overly confident when he leads others at rallies or press conferences, it comes across as unshakeable confidence and if “he” did not lack this quality, to begin with, it would be greatly diminished by his media persona.

Herbert Hoover, former President of the United States: Although he is remembered as a terrible President, Hoover was a very capable leader while he served. He handled the great depression extremely well and made decisions that further propelled the Great Depression while at the same time making the country believe that they were on their way up. This believability is a key quality of leadership and it is a strength that not many people have.

Vladimir Putin, President of Russia: Putin has been in power for quite some time and has been very successful in his long rule of Russia. He has always been a strong and decisive leader and is often taken as extremely confident in his decisions. He has even been known to back down from some of his harder rules that he had implemented, but not before making people believe that they were in place for a very good reason.

John F Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States: In addition to being an extremely popular President, JFK was also a very capable leader. Although it is very difficult to see from the movie “JFK” how effective a leader he was, most historians agree that he did a relatively good job during his presidency. He had the ability to inspire during public speeches but also to motivate through speeches that he gave to his staff. His leadership was also strong during the Cuban missile crisis, where he remained calm, cool and collected even though his advisors were practically begging him to go to war with Cuba.

Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor: Brancusi is one of the most influential sculptors of all time. His works are exponents of modernism and are examples of abstract forms made with simple shapes. He was born in Romania in 1876 but moved to Paris with his family when he was five years old. He returned home for good at the age of thirty after being an apprentice with Rodin for many years before that. During his time in Paris, he went from being a sculptor to a leader in the art world. His incredible work and bold public statements made him well known around the city and he even had a following which was quite uncommon among artists. Brancusi made excellent use of this following because, as a leader himself, he knew how to move people towards his own goals. And if they didn’t want to move with him, he simply would not continue working with them or be their friend anymore.

In life as in business, you have to learn how to lead well and not just expect those you are leading to follow blindly. And although you might have to do some convincing, it will be worth it because the confidence you gain from leading others to your goals will leave you feeling more confident than ever before.