As a business owner, your position of leadership is crucial to the success of your company. If you've been appointed a leadership role, you are undoubtedly making key decisions and setting the tone of your office culture. You want to be a leader worth following.

The truth is, even if you don't carry an official "leadership" position where you work, you are still influential. How you will influence is your choice. No matter what your role is, your attitude and choices will affect the people in your office. Make sure you are contributing to the direction of your organization's leadership instead of detracting from it. If you do have an official "leadership" title, you'll want to ensure that you're inspiring your followers to actually follow. Here are five qualities of highly effective and influential leaders.

Vision
An effective leader knows where they are going. They ask themselves important questions about what they want to accomplish, what they'll need to get there, and how they will measure success. Influential leaders never stop dreaming up new goals.

Conviction
After receiving a vision for their company, a good leader will wholeheartedly chase after it.
Your employees will be able to sniff out if you lack passion for your work. In turn, this lack of conviction will trickle down to your workers, who will probably not be excited to serve your vision.

Generosity
An influential leader is a giving leader. Whether donating to charity or working a community service project, your followers will appreciate the fact that you've made giving a priority. Nobody likes to follow a Scrooge-like leader. Your generosity will inspire more giving.

Charisma
Make people excited to follow you by being excited yourself. After an encounter with a charismatic boss, an employee will walk away fired up to work for them, and will probably want to stick around longer to see more.

Gratitude
Influential leaders frequently extend credit to where it is due instead of hogging it all to themselves. An effective leader will realize that they can't achieve their goals alone, and they reward the subordinates who work hard for them.

Being in a position of leadership in your company can be extremely stressful, but it's immensely important and rewarding. Be a leader worth following. What other influential leadership qualities have you noticed in effective leaders? Tell us in the comments.