Why is it that most people don’t realise that they have control over their lives?
I have never understood why human beings are so reactionary, they are reactive to their subconscious mind and the feelings and impulses they have in the moment. For example, how would you react when someone is driving irrationally and when they overtake you, they give you the bird (finger)? The natural reaction for most people would be to return the gesture. Now who are you relinquishing control to, the “twat” who gave you the bird or would you remain in control - what would your response be? The outcome would be extremely different depending on which decision you take. I think in general, when you react you relinquish control of the situation, and you only remain in control by not responding.
Leadership is about
The single most important characteristic of a leader that people will willingly follow is honesty. Leadership must live these values as no one likes being tricked by a business or, within a business, by its leaders. Ensure that your company is purpose as well as commercially driven. We need to make more of an effort to showcase successful leaders who build great companies based on honesty, fairness, respect, and generosity.
Leadership is NOT about:
Authority
Egocentric
Fame
Greed
Position
Power
Title
Birthday love
As a leader, it’s your responsibility to achieve success for the team and develop and empower others to become leaders themselves. Creating a leadership culture and empowering others to lead are crucial for long-term success and sustainability. I think the best leadership qualities are as follows:
L = Loyalty
E = Engagement
A = Authenticity
D = Dedication
E = Empathy
R = Respect
S = Service
H = Humility
I = Integrity
P = Perseverance
““Leadership is not about avoiding struggles, but about facing them with courage, resilience, and determination. The greatest leaders are those who embrace their challenges and use them as opportunities for growth and development.””
Managing your emotions
Behave with emotional intelligence by acknowledging your feelings and thoughts, demonstrate healthy optimism, humility, and kindness, and only focus on what you can control. Sometimes we diminish our life experience and success by trusting our mind to solve everything. In reality, our intuition takes in way more information than our intellectual mind can process. This is why I think the wisest leaders rely on their mind, heart and experience.
Leading a winning team
Tom Landry correctly described a heroic leader as someone “who tells you what you don't want to hear, who has you see what you don't want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.” Leading is the pinnacle of human achievement. Your task and number one priority is to help others grow, develop, and contribute to their colleagues and communities. I think your accomplishment list will be measured by those who went on to be wildly successful in large measure because of time spent with you.
Don't say it
Leadership is about inspiring others to believe and enabling that belief to become reality. Inviting dissenting views and amplifying quiet voices are acts of leadership. The true leader in a group is rarely the person who talks the most, it's usually the person who listens best. Listening is more than hearing what’s said, and I think it’s also noticing and surfacing what isn’t said as communication doesn't only happen verbally.
The power of leverage
I think leadership is not only about vision and setting strategy, leadership is also about building a team and nurturing their talent to enable them perform to the best of their abilities. The Centre for Creative Leadership think these are the ten traits of great leaders, in no specific order:
- Ability to delegate
- Ability to inspire
- Commitment
- Communication
- Confidence
- Creativity
- Honesty
- Intuition
- Positive attitude
- Sense of humour
Which one do you think is most important? Contact me via e-mail and let me have your thoughts.
Don't hold back
Most people crave simplicity, and beyond simplicity is complexity. I’m interested in the simplicity on the other side of complexity. There’s an inextricable link between leadership and communication because those who lead are those who clearly speak about what they believe. I think communication is the most important skill in the world, and simple communication skills should be taught in schools. Communication is both words and emotions but what’s really powerful, are words loaded with emotion. Words filled with emotion can move nations, they can help people change directions and establish good or bad ideology. The stronger and wiser you become, the more caring you become shows up in your language and manner of communication. Would you like some help with that? Contact me via e-mail and we can arrange a meeting in person or online.
Never admire quietly
Leadership is not a natural by-product of career progression, it’s a skill that takes time, patience, and practice. Mental toughness is often portrayed as determination and persistence, but it can also be viewed by your flexibility and adaptability. When you build a habit of appreciation and gratitude into all you do, you will see a positive impact on team members' motivation, idea generation, and enthusiasm. I think that when your employees feel valued, they are more likely to be more engaged and be satisfied in their work. Remember the best doers won’t always be the best leaders, and the best leaders won’t always be the best doers.
Complacency is rooted in pride
Stock Photo
What was your motivation to get into leadership?
I love sales and being in a leadership position does not change who I am as a person. Whenever I am in a leadership role or even in my younger days when I was in sales positions – I always chose to help my colleagues. I have had the benefit of good education, and I think a good education means that you have gained the ability to think on your own. Every time that I have gone into a leadership role, it was not necessarily something I was looking for, it’s something that I have naturally done. Whenever someone has asked me for help, whether friend or foe, I have always said yes, taking time to listen, articulate and advising on how we can become better as a team. Generally speaking, I have really enjoyed being in a teacher - motivator role, and in my humble opinion I have always excelled in them. I’m fully aware that whenever leaders push excellence, the haters will come out of the woodwork as employers are not fond of change.
Moving away from servant leadership
There is so much uncertainty in the world right now so we have to make sure that there is an approach to both respond to change and anticipate what changes may be out there so we can keep re-orientating our direction. What is the D.A.C framework? The D.A.C framework is an alternative to the traditional follower > goal > leadership model. Central to the DAC framework for leadership is the group’s shared belief in how direction, alignment, and commitment can be produced. Direction is the overall group mission and goals; alignment is the necessary coordination of action within the collective group and commitment is the willingness of the group members to put personal interests secondary to that of the collective interest and benefit for your organisation.
You can lead without a title
Leadership is no longer about your position, it’s more about your passion for excellence and making a difference. It’s the execution that takes focus, effort, discipline and patience. In business, if you take care of the relationship the money will follow. If you obsess about giving customers 10 times the value they expect, they will beat a path to your door. That’s what this rule you mention is all about; remembering to wow customers, and teammates, every time you have the privilege to encounter them.
“To have the results that very few have, we must be willing to start doing the things that very few are willing to do.”
An important subject for leaders to study is rationality, I mean being able to correctly conclude a rational, sensible course based on information. As a leader it’s also important to let everybody around you be helpful, but then put that through your own mental computer and make sure what you do is the product of what you’ve concluded based on all the input. I think developing rationality based on all the input is a true sense of leadership.
Being alert for the inevitable
Most of what Peter Drucker mentioned in his book, “Managing For The Future” is more of common sense, at least from today’s perspective. Practicing them consistently is difficult. I think the leaders first task is to be the trumpet that sounds a clear sound. Here are a few excerpts from the book that I particularly enjoyed:
“And nothing is noticed more quickly – and considered more significant – than a discrepancy between what executives preach and what they expect their associates to practice.”
“The Japanese recognize that there are really only two demands of leadership. ONE is to accept that rank does not confer privileges; it entails responsibilities. The OTHER is to acknowledge that leaders in an organization need to impose on themselves that congruence between deeds and words, between behavior and professed beliefs and values, that we call ‘personal integrity’.”
Knowing the scenario
I came across a book from Peter Drucker titled “Managing For The Future” which was first published in 1992. The power of great writing is that it is timeless. I read this old book and still enjoyed reading it because ideas presented in the book (specially on Leadership) are still very relevant today. The shape of corporate organisations has changed between 1992 and now. The nature of work has changed drastically too – we are out of factory model and into the knowledge oriented one, but the core principles of leadership have not changed. I think awareness, sensitivity and understanding are essential leadership skills required to lead in the 2020’s.
“Essence of leadership is not ‘leadership qualities’ or ‘charisma’. The essence of leadership is ‘performance’.”
Leaders will always
Some people believe that leaders are made and others believe that great leaders are born. I think leadership can be learned even if you were born with the personality traits and communication abilities required to become a leader. The soft skills like awareness, sensitivity and understanding are not possessed by all leaders. Good leaders will always:
⁃ Set high standards
⁃ Have excellent organisational and execution skills
⁃ Embrace change and course-corrects when needed
⁃ Take risks
⁃ Embody fearlessness
⁃ Exude passion
⁃ Earn and give trust
You must live with your results
c/o Getty Images
Taking an honest look at ourselves is, of course, easier said than done and learning to view yourself critically, but not cruelly, is the most important first step for any leader. Without knowing who we truly are, how we truly work, and where our strengths and weaknesses truly lie - we cannot possibly begin to lead others effectively. You can achieve so much when you are truly focussed. What focus means in saying “no” to something that you think is a phenomenal idea and say “no” to it because you are focussed on something else. I think one has to stand guard at the door of our minds and decide what goes inside of it, don’t allow just anyone to dump into your mental factory.
“Less excuses, more results.
Less distractions, more focus.
Less me, more we.”
Lead from the heart
For things to be better you first get yourself better, don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better and ask to be wiser and stronger. Have a great week and work on the small gains.
“Men will work hard for money. They will work harder for other men. But men will work hardest of all when they are dedicated to a cause. Until willingness overflows obligation, men fight as conscripts rather than following the flag as patriots. Duty is never worthily performed until it is performed by one who would gladly do more if only he could.”
The leadership gap
When I started my blog in 2017, I tried to interview the author of “The Leadership Gap”, Lolly Daskal. Lolly is coach, consultant, and leadership expert. I think there are sheep and shepherds, and there are also wolves. Wise leaders must understand some wolves are so clever, even though they are dressed up like sheep. Part of leadership skills are awareness, sensitivity and understanding - knowing the scenario and being alert for the inevitable.
Research shows that if you give people agency to “do their thing” in the decisions they make, they are more likely to make better decisions and morally follow-up and follow through on the decisions they make and achieve their goals.
“Management is about persuading people to do things they don’t want to do. Leadership is about inspiring people to do things they never thought they could do and end up doing it.”
Keep an open mind
I think one of the most important roles of the leader is to immediately intervene and remove the obstacles so that the team can advance towards the corporate goals.
“If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person was of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind.
”
Stay calm
Saying one thing and then doing another is the foundation stone of modern politics. I think that if you lose your temper in front of people you do not know, you lose their respect, and it is almost impossible to win back. You must keep control – if you cannot control yourself, then you have no chance of controlling others.