When we think about leadership then it is really interesting and important role in any company. Leader can help to grow company business , client , profit by doing great leadership and work.
I am QA and I have been analyzing since last some years that in most of companies there are leader available but mainly 2 types of leaders :
1 - Technical Leader
2 - Non-Technical Leader
1 - Technical Leader
As per my experience I prefer technical leaders because they have always basic understanding of programming , software , latest technologies so they can guide very well to team , can help to team if they stuck in anything and a lot more.
Some technical leader have very good command over specific technology , For ex : Java so they can lead all JAVA team and projects very well.
There is one more thing about technical team leader I would like to specify is they can understand and estimate project management , project development time estimation , project design time etc. Project may be a web design , development or software development or any.
So there are lots of benefit of technical leader.
2 - Non-Technical Leader
There are many people available who have done their master in management so they are capable of being team leader. Also they have really very good skill to manage team , projects , clients and a lot more. But when technical things comes during job then they are lacking. Even some experienced leader also have technical knowledge lacking.
So in non-technical team lead role there will be always some mismatch in estimate project management , project development time estimation , project design time etc. Project may be a web design , development or software development or any. And at end either team get dissatisfied or client/company.
So I am not saying that non-technical leader are not capable but it is beneficial in some stage if they have technical knowledge.
@PaulDonny - It is good that you are technical so this thing will help you a lot more in leadership also. I believe that leadership role is totally diff. than technical role but technical knowledge is very important part in leadership.
According to me a good leader should have following skills :
1 - Team management
2 - Long term thinking
3 - Objective must be high
4 - Goal setting
5 - Team motivation
6 - Never think only for personal growth , think about team and company growth also
7 - Co-operative nature
8 - Detailed analysis skill
"Leadership is not about what you are , Leadership is about what you want to be".