How to Release the Leader Within You
About the Authors:
NEIL FLANAGAN and JARVIS FINGER
World-renowned business strategists and authors of several international best-selling books on management. Neil is a sought-after keynote, conference and motivational speaker and Jarvis is the award-winning founder and editor of Australia's best known magazine for school administrators.
There is nothing elusive about leadership. Although great leaders may be as rare as great runners, great painters, or great actors, everyone has leadership potential—just as everyone has some ability at running, painting, and acting.
Unfortunately, there is no simple formula, no foolproof handbook, that leads inexorably to successful leadership. But don’t despair, for if you are able to release the following essential leadership qualities, you’ll be well on the way to displaying the features of a great leader…
Display Integrity
Integrity is a quality you must develop. It helps to build trust, allows you to influence others, sets and maintains high standards, and builds your reputation as one who can be relied upon.
Socrates told us that 'the first key to greatness is to be in reality what we appear to be’. In today’s terminology it’s known as congruence… followers are acutely aware of any difference between what you say and what you do.
Demonstrate Extraordinary Persistence
Researchers have identified three major opportunities for learning to lead—trial and error, observation of others, and education. All three require ‘stickability’—seeing tasks through despite the setbacks, and learning from your mistakes.
Success is experienced only by those who are prepared to persist.
Show Confidence
Overwhelming confidence in your own ability is essential. If you don’t believe in you, others can’t be expected to. Confidence can be acquired through experience, skill, and positive affirmation. People will ‘buy into’ the leader before they ‘buy into’ his or her leadership.
Make a Commitment to Hard Work
Nothing of worth comes easily. Most great leaders thrived on hard work and their main motivator was their desire to satisfy their own high standards.
You’ll find that a combination of self-discipline and a desire to make a difference will provide the necessary commitment to succeed.
Focus on Being Responsive
Responsiveness is giving customers or employees what they want, courteously, when they want it, at a price that matches their expectations. You will be remembered not for the number of tasks you take on but those that you complete successfully.
Your level of responsiveness will be the quality you will be recognised for.
Brinf out the Best in Others
Leadership doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Invariably it involves working with others—selling them your dream, instilling in them a desire to achieve, motivating, cajoling, even coercing. Your ability to influence is a key leadership factor. Be tolerant of those less competent than yourself, providing they are willing to make the effort to perform to the best of their ability.
Demonstrate a High Degree of Energy
There are many times when actions speak louder than words. Be prepared to share the load, roll up your sleeve and mix it with the others, apply yourself longer, and give that little bit extra. To that end, maintain a level of fitness that ensures you are physically capable of leading by example.
Back you Judgement
Boldness and courage are two key leadership qualities. You need to demonstrate a willingness to take chances, to experiment, and display a level of optimism that rejects any prospect of failure. Any failure is viewed as an opportunity to begin again better prepared than before.
Develop Humility
Learn to recognise your place in the scheme of things. Demonstrate high ideals, a strong sense of personal morality, and keep out of the ‘sand-pit behaviour’ that is reminiscent of child’s play.
Get your Timing Right
Seizing the moment is the key to any successful endeavour, so make sure you get your timing right. Timing is a combination of alertness, foresight, and imagination.
Develop a Winning Attitude
It’s not what happens to you, it’s what you do about it that counts—and your attitude will determine your response. As John Maxwell explains, ‘The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails’.
Resolve now to start thinking and acting like a leader.
And finally, focus on:
THE 10 C'S OF LEADERSHIP
Bear in mind Michael Pegg's 10 C's, the characteristics of compelling leadership. You'll need to be…
1. Charismatic
Caring
Committed
Crystal-clear
Communicative
Consistent
Creative
Competent
Courageous
Crazy (well, just a little to set about making a real difference).
Just about Everything a Manager Needs to Know
By Neil Flanagan and Jarvis Finger
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