What makes a leader different from the ones he/she leads? Experience? Not really… The biography of the greatest leaders doesn’t lie: they were those who created every possible opportunity to grow up. They drew the greatest good out of the greatest evil. Achieving leadership is not about achieving a title of distinction, but impacting people, by understanding the laws of human nature. And so, the influence of the leader reverberates through the mouth and hands of those who go by his/her side. Not around or behind: aside. After all, you only are able to create other leaders – and not followers – if you always reinvent yourself without forgetting some eternal lessons. They are:
1. Opportunities are everywhere, but few people can see them
Start looking beyond the obvious. Leading requires you to see the details and do not languish your critical sense. You can’t stop looking for new perspectives to your problems. For instance, what explains the bad team’s relationship? It may be for the daily hurry, the team now bigger etc. (the obvious), but it may be because the company culture has been forgotten, or managers who isolated their teams or even for the continuing lack of kindness (the detail).
2. Change with no strategy is not evolution, but replacement
Don’t wait until circumstances force you to change. Predicting and dealing with change is the hidden rule within each briefing of your tasks. Unfortunately, those who ignore it jeopardize both the future of the company and the team performance. Ask yourself: What’s the worst thing could happen? So get ready for it and work hard to improve your abilities to deal with the worst. A strategic planning — well communicated — exists to minimize the risks towards the greatest reward possible.
3. Entrepreneurship is a lifestyle
You don’t need to be an entrepreneur to have an entrepreneurial attitude or be surrounded by ambitious, energetic and creative people. Thinking of the continuous renewal and reinvention yourself as a leader will make you more notorious. However, once nothing can be reinvented in a flash, the entrepreneurial lifestyle should be a mindset assimilated by all the team. E.g., Hyundai and Google are references in the market because they invest in testing ideas came from anyone, regardless of hierarchy.
4. You need to be prepared to be notorious
We all have great ideas, but many of them are afraid to get off the ground until we discover that our competitor is doing exactly what we thought – before. That’s why it’s so important to evaluate the company’s culture every three years on average. This may seem like a hassle, but the market demands. Don’t make radical changes, but a review of the point of view, from time and tasks management to relationships between bosses and employees. Do not rely exclusively on your team to be enough to teach you what you must know. Look, by yourself, for more and more knowledge.
5. The leader loses his fortune when he loses his self-confidence
Trusting yourself is the ability to know enough your strengths and know that your weaknesses won’t influence your results at work. It’s the ability to know that, when your efforts, your preparation and your vocation find the opportunities. If you have this, you are ready for any situation. How many times have you heard a voice saying “Go, do it” and you didn’t, or, worst!, waited for others to assume the risk? After all, are you asking them to influence you? Wasn’t it the opposite.
6. If not me, who? Someone for fure
Your leadership is a brand and taking care of it is a life mission for who wants to influence and inspire confidence at the company. Managing your leadership is similar to manage your company brand. When leaders fail to set an identity for his/her team, the organization begins to lose its competitive advantage (including proactivity, resilience and creativity). If you are not loyal to your own leadership, someone else will be, and you become vulnerable. So, find out what kind of inspiration you are and be sure to express it. A crisis of image will make it easier to doubt your ability, goals and decisions.
7. Adversity can destroy you or reveal you
There is no denying that the first memories in people’s minds come from the way you led your team when it faced a conflict. Your leadership will be in the spotlight. That’s when you build almost all the reputation of a career. What others see as a big problem you can see as an easily controllable or reversible obstacle. By viewing the odds with the “lens of opportunity” you prove that being under your leadership is a privilege
8. Show me your friends and I will tell you how you lead
The people you choose to associate with significantly influence your intentions, your decisions and will ultimately shape your leadership style. So ask yourself what you get with each of your coworkers and what you give to them. After all, are they able to show you your weaknesses and encourage you to seek to be a stronger person and a more mature leader? In order to be someone more influential, you have to understand how others influence you, to the point of breaking your conservative view, your daily manners and even your higher purposes for life.
9. The success of a leader is never lost or won in one instant
No one will be a great leader if he/she wants to do everything by him/herself or get all the credit for doing it. The only way to get someone to do something with you is to awake in him/her a strong desire to do it. Desire isn’t a great expectation, but the feeling that this task is a landmark, a responsibility to care for like a child, which will make you very proud. So leadership is not achieved from day to night. Refuse to make false promises. Instead, demonstrate your greater interest in the others’ need to grow. Does education cost money? So ignorance.
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