If you live long enough, you will meet great leaders. Most people believe that leaders are born and few believe that they themselves can become some kind of leader.
I am now a believer that the old axiom, “leaders are born, not made” is false.
Leadership is not easy, but it can be learned. Leadership is demanding and can be frustrating. However, leadership is noble and rewarding. Therefore, it is important not to assume your leadership role with an arrogant attitude.
There are nine facts about leadership that we can all aspire to have. I have found that these characteristics are evident in the most ordinary and extraordinary leaders of our time. People like Gandhi, Martin L King, and Mother Teresa possess these nine qualities.
You don’t need any dire circumstances to propel you into a leadership role. However, for anyone to become a great leader, he must have a love for people and a desire to improve the lives of those he encounters.
For example, Mother Teresa’s love for the people living in the slums of India inspired her to spend sixty years feeding and clothing the poor. Love for her propelled her into a leadership role where presidents, dignitaries and the people of India were willing to sit in stuffy rooms just to hear what she had to say.
The second and third leadership characteristics will challenge prevailing sentiment and emphasize learning. Martin L. King knew that the nation could no longer treat one segment of the population differently from the rest.
Martin L King uses his great scholarly oratory in invoking these words from our Constitution: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. ….Martin L King challenged the status quo in the United States in the 1960s for the betterment of society.
To be a leader, you must be willing to challenge the status quo and continue to educate yourself.
The fourth and fifth characteristics are a driven commitment and having a vision beyond the current circumstances. Gandhi knew that the Indians had to be self-sufficient if they were to survive in the future. Gandhi’s commitment to the Indian people that one day they will be independent of the monarch of England was a vision few Indians believed or felt possible.
However, Gandhi’s progressive thinking, commitment and sacrifice are the reasons why India is independent from English colonial rule.
The seventh and eighth truths have to do with the people around you. “Most people will follow a leader who can clearly articulate his WHY” Start with the WHY (Simon Sinek) in life. Most can tell you what they do and how they do it, but very few can tell you “WHY” they do what they do.
Let’s go back to the three leaders I mentioned earlier, Mother Teresa, Martin L King, and Gandhi. Mother Teresa’s “WHY” was feeding the poor, Martin L King and Gandhi’s “WHY” the injustice of people. The three of them knew that no one person could do it, so they inspired others to participate.
Finally, the ninth and most crucial truth is YOU. I also include myself. “You make a difference”. The truth about leadership (James M Kouses Barry Z Posner) we must believe in ourselves. We must believe that we can make a difference and move in that direction. We must believe that we have all the attributes to challenge the status quo and be enamored with the desire to change the world around us.