Leadership: The Word Becomes An Action
These days literally everyone talks and writes about “leadership.” What is real leadership? Who has leadership? Why leadership matters to business? Why leadership is important? If you Google leadership, you get 80,500,000 references. If you search for leadership books to read at notable booksellers like Barnes and Noble (they have 21,625 books relating to leadership) or Borders (6,533 books) or Amazon (an impressive 370,420 books), you can find just about anyone writing about leadership. Attila the Hun has leadership secrets. UCLA coach John Wooden has 12 leadership lessons. Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee are lessons in leadership. There about books about the wounded leadership, Christian leadership, and “heroic” leadership. Even the rocker Ted Nugent in Ted, White and Blue talks leadership (“Cat Scratch Fever” must have a leadership lesson in it somewhere – I will have to find my 8 Track tape!).
My point here is that common to all these testimonies on leadership are certain traits or characteristics of the individuals telling their story or someone else’s. And while I would recommend continued learning by reading books on leadership, it is essential that individuals not wait for the next book on “how to lead” but instead take action, make decisions, and experience leadership daily.
Here are the common leadership traits that each of us can implicitly understand and apply immediately:
- Commit to a mission or goal. Begin with your own passion to provide better service or improve your product or cure a disease or help create affordable housing for those who can’t afford a place to live. Write it down and look at it daily.
- Build a strong team around you. Create a “brain trust” of individuals who have strengths you do not possess, who challenge your thinking, and who help you think through all aspects of a decision before you make it. And don’t be afraid to admit they can be smarter than you are!
- Continually seek personal improvement. Enrich your mind with this magazine, books, seminars, CDs, and college courses which ensure you remain challenged and constantly inquisitive.
- Avoid negativity and gossip. Face reality yes. But spending time paying attention to those who want to keep you down so they rise up, or hearing the “dirt” on team members saps you of valuable time which can be better used to attain your mission or goal.
- Understand your competitors. Know them better then they know themselves. Be able to put yourself in their shoes so as to fully understand their mission, goals, strategies and tools they will use to gain a competitive edge on you.
- Prepare for adversity. Leadership is hard, very hard. It can be very lonely when you’re the leader. It requires tenacious inner strength and perseverance. One great leader was William Wilberforce (the hit movie Amazing Grace is based upon his life) who was a member of the British Parliament. His goal was to end the slave trade in Britain. It took 53 years. England finally abolished slavery forever on July 26, 1833. Three days later, Wilberforce died.
- Inspire. Leaders have followers. Some are paid. Some volunteer. But the team around the leader and those committed to the mission or goal must be continually motivated.
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I encourage you, as one leader to another, to continue to read about leadership. But commit, act, persevere. “Leadership” is only a word. Leading itself is action. Do it!
