Your Ability To Lead Others

15 Feb 2010 @ 10:31 PM

In our business, we have 5 underlying strategies for success that we call: ‘The 5 Pillars Of Success’. These are 5 principles that are used as a daily ‘success checklist’ by which we run the business.
One of those success strategies is ‘The Expectation Of Leadership In Yourself And Others’. Think about that statement for a moment. Our whole life, in all the various roles in which we find ourselves, we expect (often even demand), leadership in others.
Now I know that there are many different definitions of leadership. Let me take a moment here to define what I mean by leadership. To lead, for me, is to be in service for others. Leadership equals service. Leadership demands respect, and respect has nothing to do with ‘like’. It took me a long time to realize that ‘respect’ has nothing to do with ‘like’ and, likewise, ‘leadership’ does not have to go hand in hand with ‘telling people how to do something’. Rather, it has everything to do with inspiring people and empowering them to do things for themselves.
To be a leader, we need to first start respecting ourselves. We need to be our absolute best at home and at work and give both places the level of respect that they deserve. Quite simply, we can not help other people before we help ourselves.
As a child, we naturally assume that our parents will be our leaders. At school, we look to our teachers to be leaders. As adults, every single day, there is an expectation of leadership from one person or another. We expect our manager to make the right decisions and lead the company to success. We expect the shop assistant to ‘be in charge’ for us so that we can select and pay for our goods. We expect the bank clerk to explain the state of our finances and to lead us through our financial transactions.
We expect leadership in others literally every day. But what of the leadership we give to others? If we expect leadership from those around us, shouldn’t we be expecting leadership in ourselves also?

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