Leadership Part 2
“True leadership is not found in those that point the way, but is found in those who physically lead for others to follow…” — Rick Cox
Part 2
Leaders come in every size, shape, and personality. They come from every race and religion; every age and gender.
The process of leading is carried out by applying leadership qualities such as vision, passion, curiosity, and daring. Along with these, a leader must also have integrity (ethics, character & values), as well as strong conviction and knowledge.
Unfortunately, mixed among the good there is always the bad. Regrettably, people wind up following some of these bad leaders. All of us have watched as leaders from every field of endeavor wind up ship wrecked on the rocks of self-destruction. As any leader grows in stature, power and wealth, they attract more and more followers, be they bad or good. Eventually, with more money and power, the real person on the inside is exposed and their true nature revealed. Although one can now see they are not worth following it is seldom in time to keep dozens, hundreds or thousands from the same self-destruction; for as the Leaders Empire crumbles to the ground, he or she will take many innocent victims with them.
As previously stated, good leaders always have integrity, which is why they garner the respect and admiration of those who follow. The values of these leaders are such they place others in front of themselves for the basis of good leadership is honorable character and selfless service to those they lead. Good leaders have ethical principles, which they use to help keep them within the proper boundaries. On top of being a person of sound principles, they also place a high value on having an impeccable reputation; it is of the utmost importance.
There are certain qualities that makes up a good leader, which I will now cover. A good leader will always have vision as well as purpose. That is to say a good leader will know what they want to do as well as have the tenacity to carry it out in the face of setbacks or failures. For every business venture I have had the only ones, which have been successful are those for which I had vision and purpose. Without vision it is not possible to lead with conviction for you will not know where you are going or where you have been. Without vision it is seldom possible to endure the constant push back, the myriad of obstacles, and the barrage of mind games you will have to go through and endure in order to continue to move forward toward your goal and objective. Though it is true there are companies that do survive without good strong leaders, these businesses seldom enjoy more than mediocre success. This is because it isn’t possible to gather many followers, be they employees or clients, when no one knows the game plan and there is no one filled with passion pushing this dream out so that others can catch it as well and get involved.
As just mentioned, Good Leaders are passionate about what they do for without passion it is hard to get people excited about your vision and even harder to join. A Burning Passion will provide the energy and enthusiasm to gather what you need in support, such as personnel, and finances to carry out your vision and bring it to reality. Passion will give you the drive to push through when the going gets tough and believe me the going will get tough, real tough long before it ever gets better. Passion will motivate you in the same manner of a love sick suitor. Passion will show you have a love for what you do as well as being willing to get into the nitty gritty of it. Once again, passion will also attract everyone you need and everything you need to your side to carry out your vision.
Good Leaders are inquisitive and will allow their curiosity to help drive them to do something new or redo something better. Leaders wonder about everything while seeking to learn all they can. There is an old saying, “Curiosity killed the cat” but without curiosity leaders would not venture into the unknown. There would be no new inventions. Henry Ford was not the designer of the V-8 engine, but he believed it could be done so he pushed his engineers to complete his vision. The results are now obvious; we have the V-8. Curiosity – can it be done? Of course it can.
This brings us to another characteristic of leaders: Good Leaders are daring. Leaders are not afraid to take a chance. Leaders are not afraid to take risks or try new things. Although their current path may lead to failure they will push straight ahead coming out on the other side holding in their hand the answer for how to win next time around.
Best of LUCK as you
Labor Under Correct Knowledge…
Respectfully,
Rick Cox