The Room is Empty
The room is empty. Your friends are gone. Family members disagree with the direction you’re heading in your career based on their own fears and limitations. But you decide to still make the right decision regardless of external factors and constraints. You activate your inner strength and trailblaze your own path in life. When no one supports you and the only assurance you have comes from within, you are acting with courage, integrity, and leadership.
The True Nature of Leadership
The true nature of leadership is about staying true to your values no matter what the external circumstances may be – good, bad, or negative. Values are implemented and sustained through your vision. A vision may seem simple, but it is a step often missed in leadership. Think about a vision in practical terms. Have you made a thorough plan? Are you taking daily action? Are you following through on your promises and connecting with people from you authentic true self?
Please know that this does not mean you have to be tied down to the plan – you can make plenty of course corrections and adjustments along the way of your leadership journey. But having a blueprint will give you a starting point by which to get the plane of your life off the ground and into the skies, where you belong.
Don’t Forget About the Act of Leadership Itself
There’s another huge aspect of leadership to be discussed. And that’s the act of leadership itself! Leadership is not about having the most followers – it’s about creating the most leaders. It’s about empowering others to become self-reliant, self-sufficient, and fully functional individuals within your organization who become leaders themselves. And these are all skillsets that can be learned with time, practice, and the right coaching. The irony of leadership is that the absolute best leaders don’t seek recognition – they seek to give the recognition to others because they are always building up and helping others. True leaders are self-actualized individuals.
An Important Story
I’ll leave you with a story. While growing my business, I do a lot of consulting. One of the companies I was consulting with had a particularly difficult client. After a few misunderstandings the client took out all of their unhappiness on me, condemning me and telling me how wrong I was. Rather than defend myself and tell the guy how I’m an internationally-renowned author and speaker, I backed off. But I was lucky and blessed enough to be defended by the CEO of the company I consulted with. The CEO of the organization decided to fire that client – yes, you’re allowed to fire your client just as much as they’re allowed to fire you – and he showed exceptional leadership skills by doing the right thing in the face of an extremely difficult person. Rather than argue with the guy, the CEO just let him go.
I learned a valuable lesson that day: your actions reflect your company at all times and will come back to haunt you if you’re not careful. Had that man who yelled at me known he might lose us, perhaps he wouldn’t have been the jerk that he was. But he went ahead and acted his ignorant self and the consequences came to his company. We can also learn from the leadership of the CEO who stood up for me by firing his rude and uncouth client without letting the client bring him down into the client’s miserable world of unhappiness.
The Act of Leadership is a Learnable Skill
There is so much more here. There is the difference between management and leadership. There are different qualities and types of leaders. And there are specific skillsets leaders can learn to implement when times get tough. Yes, that’s right – no matter what your background or history, leadership is a learnable skill!
This is only basecamp of The Mountain. To Reach The Mountaintop with Jeff as a leader, please explore www.jeffdspeaks.com or call his team at 800-315-4832.
