5 Things to Consider when Leading

So, I was listening to an audio extract of a seminar which was geared towards some accountants. The one bit which struck and stuck to me was that the speaker said, that we are all leaders, not necessarily business leaders or CEO's in a company but we have to "lead" our lives. In essence, you cannot lead someone else's life because even if you do - you would still be doing it from your own perspective.

YOU ARE A LEADER...The thing of importance is, what type of leader are you? The easiest way to answer this is to see what kind of life you are leading, therefore you have to think and internalise this idea. So as you lead your life, can someone look on and see or use your template as an example? Would you be ashamed? Would you be able to share?

Leading comes naturally to some and challenging to others, and when you are among your cohorts do you find they follow your lead or are you being challenged by another personality. If you are a good leader - you can recognise when you are to remain silent and when you should take charge. However do not do it with arrogance nor pride if not you become the monkey with the exposed tail. If you want to see leadership styles emerging make a note of the US election campaigns. There is the past president and also presidential hopefuls and as much as the media blitz/spin place on the persons character you can if you are watching note who is the "better" leader. [I guess you may say this may be a bit contradictory]

Anyway - when you lead, in the caribbean we say -"lead from the front..." which easily suggests that you have to have gut and balls in order to do so. It takes a special kind of human to lead...even if it is your own house/pet or lifestyle. As a leader you have to make the decision and handle the results and be objective enough to know when to quit and move on.

Jot these things down and consider your answers:

1) What is your concept of leadership?
2) What is your fear factor with respect to leading?
3) Can you handle the results?
4) What does your leadership template look like?
5) What influenced your leadership style?