Originally published 2/4/05 as a Business Page column for the Portland Press Herald, Maine.
The leadership industry has grown in direct proportion to the world’s desire and need for better leaders. In every aspect of society good leaders are essential to success.
Governments, communities, schools, nonprofit organizations, religious institutions, small businesses and many more do much better when their leadership is good.
Today, anyone wanting to learn more about leadership can choose from hundreds of books, articles, workshops, seminars, symposiums, forums, rallies, consulting firms and various other “experts.” The question remains, do any of these resources actually help create better leaders? Well, yes and no, depending on several key factors.
Information about leadership does not create leaders. If that were true, our country would be overflowing with great leaders. How can you become a good, advanced-level, or even great leader?
The best tool for increasing your leadership ability is a mirror. Instead of focusing your attention on the latest hot book or seminar, hold up a mirror and take a look at yourself. Better yet, imagine you have a mirror with you all the time, one that also records your voice. As you look and listen to yourself, focus on your behavior, not your intentions. What parts of your behavior actually demonstrate leadership? What aspects of your behavior fall short of showing leadership?
How does your behavior impact other people and your business? What feelings in your gut do you experience, and what perceptions about yourself and others in your mind emerge as you go about your work? Which of these feelings and perceptions enable you to move forward with skill, which ones act like a barrier to your success? Remember, it’s not about what you say, or what you believe, but about what you do that counts.
The nature of who you are as a person stands on the foundation of your core values and deepest beliefs. Your values and beliefs about people will drive everything you do as a leader. Authenticity starts with how consistently your behavior reflects the values and beliefs you have. Getting clear about your personal and professional values will help build the foundation you need to move forward with as a person and over time as a leader.
Your values and beliefs will influence all that you do if you have the courage to take seriously what their meaning and impact are on every life circumstance and decision you face. If you need help getting clear about your core values and beliefs, work with a mentor, coach, spiritual guide or other trusted friend or colleague who is willing to help. Great leaders have strong values at their core.
Once you are clear about your core values and beliefs and how these play out in every aspect of your life, it’s time to uncover a little more about yourself. What are the characteristics and qualities you have developed or were born with that others can clearly see in your behavior? How would other people describe you as a person? Leaders who have demonstrated advanced-level skills or even greatness, and have had a positive impact in their sphere of influence, tend to show their personal qualities consistently in how they live.
What are these key qualities? There are many that leaders inherently have or develop with consistent effort, and no one particular list of leadership qualities you may read in a book or hear about in a workshop will ever be “The List.”
So as you read the books, articles or seminar notebooks you may have collected, take a minute to look at all the lists about what makes a great leader and then select the qualities you think are the most important and make that your list about leadership.
Next, take an inventory of your particular characteristics and qualities and the degree to which these have developed in your lifetime. Based on the qualities of leadership you selected for your list, take stock of how you measure up on any and all of these qualities. Seek out feedback from others. Then develop a plan for developing these qualities to a meaningful level that you will need to become a good, advanced or even great leader. Working with a mentor, coach, teacher, spiritual guide or trusted friend will make this work easier and richer.
Remember, leadership is not about the title, job or status you have, but about who you are as a person and your ability to have a positive influence on people, business and the whole community.