What an apt saying by John Wooden , Hall of Fame Coach of UCLA .

It is always said that a leader is as good as his or her team .The qualities of a leader determine who is inside the circle. Sometimes while determining our inner circle we often focus only on productivity and results. However focusing on a person's inner qualities is more important.

Some of the key attributes that you could remember as a LICENCE to your inner circle is as follows:

Loyalty - This in itself does not make people candidates for your inner circle, but lack of loyalty definitely disqualifies them. Don't keep anyone close to you whom you cannot trust.

Influence - If you desire to extend your reach you must attract and lead other leaders, not just followers.

Competence - You can't get anything done if your people aren't capable of doing their jobs .All inner circle people must perform with excellence.

Energy - Boundless energy is indeed desirable, because it helps a person to keep coming back failure after failure. And tenacity is indeed valuable to a team.

Networking - What people know isn't the only thing that matters .Who they know is also important.

Character Drive - Character is the greatest of all qualities needed in an inner circle member. People of weak character will cost you dearly. When you go wrong, people in your inner circle must have the character to speak out.

Empowering - The people in your inner circle must have the will and tenacity to spur you on. They should enable you to achieve more than that you could alone.

References:

The Magic of Thinking Big - David Schwartz
Modern Problems and Ancient Solutions - Swami Harshananda
How to overcome Mental Tension - Swami Gokulananda
The 21 Most Powerful Minutes in a Leader's Day - John C.Maxwell

Author's Bio: 

S.Dasgupta is a practising manager at Duncans Tea House , and a Chem. Engg MBA by education .He can be contacted at subby_d_g@hotmail.com for any feedback /input from your side .