Don’t know what makes a good philosopher.
But as far as thinking skills go, I read, reread, and continue to refer to this
The Art of Reasoning: A Textbook in Applied Logic, by Dr. David Kelley

A philosopher is simply a person who asks questions.

A famous philosopher simply asks the right questions at the right time. I don’t think it’s an inherent skill; it’s rather a matter of experience (and a healthy serving of luck).

The best philosophers don’t let their experience get in the way, though – they will follow the logic to its conclusion, even if the truth is uncomfortable.

From my experience, reading arguments by others and then deconstructing them into a formal logical argument with each premise clearly identified, looking for hidden unstated premises, and logical fallacies was the thing that helped me the most. Like all things, practice is important, and logical analysis/critical thinking improves with hard work and repetition.

Write your papers and books in language that sounds as though it had been translated from Hochdeutsche (high German). It’s important to be unreadable in both.

I could not tell you in general what makes a great philosopher, but I think the topic of Socratic method is very promising. It is true that Socrates used it to get his opponents to contradict themselves, but the same basic method is very effective in tutoring. I don’t know that anyone has done a thorough analysis of it. I say go for it and trust in your logic and intuition to know if you are hurting anyone.

I think a good philosopher is rigorous and meticulous in the method. He or she reads widely and understands the history of both philosophy, and many other disciplines related to philosophy, such as politics, religion, psychology and scientific method. A good philosopher is every hungry to know more; asks endless questions; tests all answers endlessly; and is probably something of a dweeb. That’s a technical term.

A philosopher needs to be open-minded and mentally creative in my opinion. However, a philosopher should not so open-minded that there is little meaning to their thoughts either. Just a guess here.

A philosopher should be curious, clear thinking, honest and respectful of other opinions.

Thank you everyone for your answers, but these are not the answers I seek for your responses are what your idea of a philosopher is. I mean no disrespect or disregard. I am very grateful and appreciative of every single response here. I understand more as to what a good philosopher looks like to a person who seeks knowledge. Thank you all.

Being able to approach a matter from a new perspective is invaluable, perhaps as much as the critical thinking that you’ll proceed to apply to it. And I expect that you’ll want to work on managing your cognitive dissonance.
As for good philosophy, I read once that a good mathematician needs paper, pen, and wastebasket, whereas a good philosopher just needs the paper and pen. :P

Locally, we have @SavoirFaire and @tom_g who both win their bread with philosophy. I look forward to hearing from them.

An open mind and the capability to challenge one’s assumptions.

~being able to avoid work and book sales makes a good philosophers. Also groupies and fans and your own sociality.