Guest Post: The Principles And Secrets Of Excellent Leadership

In times past, seasoned minds have attempted to enlighten us on what leadership really is. These are some of their definitions: 

1. Peter Drucker: “the only definition of a leader is someone who has followers”

2. Warren Bennis: “Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality”

3. Bill Gates: “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who will empower others”

4. John C. Maxwell: “Leadership is influence – nothing more, nothing less”

Forbes 2013 defines Leadership as “a process of social influence, which maximizes the effort of others towards the achievement of a goal”

Those definitions give us more understanding of what leadership is, but it is equally important to know what leadership is not. These are some general misconceptions about leadership:

1. Leaders are born like Royals: Leadership is a teachable skill. That you are born into a royal family does not make you a leader, it just qualifies you for the position of a prince/princess. Anybody with the right principles can be a leader. To a few people, leadership is innate but it can be learned.

2. Leadership is about title, position or rank: I have heard people say “there’s so much I can do, but I am not the point leader”. This is a sheer misconception. You do not have to be the point leader to make a contribution or change; this is why John C. Maxwell says “Leadership is about influence and not title”. From his story in “21 irrefutable laws of Leadership” Maxwell discovered on his first job that anytime there was a board meeting, people listened to and respected a certain old farmer who had been in the organization for years, he then realized that the leader was not the CEO/Manager, it was the old farmer who garnered more influence.

3. Leadership is about prestige, power and status: Certain Leadership positions bring prestige, power, honour, status and even fame but this should not be a drive or motivation. Leadership is about serving others especially with your time, skills and talents.

4. Leadership is restricted to selected few: This is a gross misconception and that is why people criticize, complain without taking responsibilities. Let me affirm, “You are a leader”. You lead people in some circles, it may just not be colored by title. For example, in a family of three, there is the husband who is expected to lead the family to success, the wife who supports the husband and lead the child. The child may be saddled the responsibility of teaching his mates in the teen’s church memory verses, to that effect, the child too is a leader. We are all followers to government, religious leaders and other authorities but we are also leaders directly or indirectly in other circles.

5. Leadership is about age: You do not need to attain some ages to be a leader, even though experience is non-negotiable. Apparently, many of the disciples of Jesus were older than Him and he was still their leader (because He had something to offer). This misconception is a reason why many followers fail/refuse to take instructions from leaders they are older than especially in this part of the world.

6. Leaders know everything and are infallible: Leaders do not necessarily know everything, what they have is sense of direction and vision. Leaders are expected to learn and are prone to making mistakes. In fact, the mistakes will make a good leader if he/she learns from them. Therefore, fear of mistakes or failures should not stop you from taking leadership responsibilities.

7. Leaders possess absolute power and are imposing: Leadership is not tyranny. A good boss does not necessarily mean a good leader. Leaders do not always give orders but they inspire others to achieve a goal.

8. Leadership can be learnt through knowledge: It is true that you can learn leadership through the studying of books but a million books on leadership will not make you a leader until you internalize it and apply the right knowledge in the right atmosphere.

Qualities Needed For Leadership

1. Confidence and eloquence.

2. Humility

3. Constant communication with God and with the people

4. Test of competencies. Always expect your competencies to be tested and that is why continuous growth is important.

5. Expect Antagonists: 

6. The way you dress is the way you will be addressed: A Yiddish proverb says “don’t get insulted if people ride on you, if you are acting like an ass”. There is a dressing for a particular occasion, dress well, people are watching.

Principles Of Good Leadership

1. Influence: Like we have established, leadership is not about position, title or age but of influence. It is the ability to influence people to achieving a particular goal. Let us look at the acronym I-N-F-L-U-E-N-C-E by John Maxwell:

Integrity – builds relationship on trust, saying you will do, and doing what you say.

Nurturing – cares about people as individuals

Faith- believe in people

Listening – values what others have to say

Understanding – sees from others point of view

Enlarging – helps others become bigger

Navigating – assisting others through difficulties

Connecting – initiates positive relationships

Empowering – gives them the power to lead

The above acronym proves leadership is about influence and not position.

2. Lead yourself first: If you cannot lead yourself very well, you cannot lead others. The key to achieving this is self-management. The following are some of the factors you need to manage:

a. Manage your time: Wasted time is irretrievable. Punctuality is a key. Do not get to an appointment late without a prior notification. M. Scott Peck said “until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it”

b. Manage your emotions: Nobody is entitled to stealing your joy. Good leaders know when to display emotions and when to delay them. Learn from Napoleon Bonaparte’s outburst on Talleyrand which was the beginning of his doom. Do not speak when you are angry and do not promise when you are happy.

c. Manage your priorities: Do the right thing at the right time, focus on what add values to you. Improve on your strengths and reduce your weaknesses.

d. Manage your energy: You cannot do it all, leadership is not about how much you achieve as an individual, it is how well your team advances and achieve. Learn to delegate some of your responsibilities to people. It will save your time, energy and it will make other people grow.

e. Manage your thinking: As a man thinks, so he is. You are what you think. Always see the positive and think possibilities. Think ahead of your actions, this simply means to plan to the end. A minute of thinking is often more valuable than an hour of talk or unplanned work.

f. Manage your words: Words are good to encourage people but let you actions speak more than your words. Words can trigger war and can also bring peace, so choose your words wisely.

g. Manage your appearance: Health is wealth. Dress neatly. People will firstly judge you by your look before they listen to you and examine your competence. Dress like a king to be treated like one.

In conclusion, we are all meant to be leaders; in fact that is who we are, and it is better we admit it and start working on ourselves to be able to meet up with the challenges of life.

Written by Peter Olufemi Eludini

eludinipeterolufemi@gmail.com

IG/Twitter: @petfem001 | 565E6AE3

Cover image via Medepi.com