Lead your way to greatness

12 Mar, 2023 - 00:03 0 Views
Lead your way to greatness Leaders take people to places and stations they have never been

The Sunday Mail

Hunt for Greatness
Milton Kamwendo

LEADERSHIP is not just a position — it is influence.

The best leaders lead without a title; the worst ones mistake the title for influence.

The currency of all leadership is influence. You lead from where you are. True leadership does not wait for a title or front-row seat in order to lead.

You lead the charge until you are in charge.

Leadership is not a sitting and relaxing destination but a journey towards vision, powered by strategy.

Leadership has its risks. You cannot lead without effective change. At times you take unpopular decisions and end up creating discomfort.

The call of leadership is not perfection but effectiveness. It is not about blending but standing out.

Leadership is a journey that is taken daily, connecting, mobilising, challenging the process and building teamwork and commitment.

Leadership is challenging and demands energy.

Leaders foster collaboration. They also influence, inspire, coach and mobilise people.

Leaders take people to places and stations they have never been.

Great leaders stretch people; poor ones deflate them. Good leaders take people where they want to go. Truly, great leaders take people where they must go.

Leaders set the bar higher for those they work with. It is hard to interact with a leader and remain the same.

Leadership is about seeing the future and working to make it real.

The leader’s workshop is in the mind. Leadership is always allied with vision. Leaders without vision are a liability.

Leaders with expired visions are a burden. Those who simply copy other people’s visions without thinking are a joke.

Leadership is in everything and everywhere.

Many people talk about it, yet there are always so many questions about it.

Leadership will always be in demand.

When a good leader crosses your path, you know it. When leadership is lacking, you feel it.

Books have been written about leadership and great poems recited on the virtues and shadows of great leaders.

In leadership, popularity is not the same as character. Praise singers are not always real followers or an endorsement of leadership greatness.

Leaders who are served by sycophants will not lead for long in any arena.

You are safe in leadership when your team can still bring you tough and challenging bad news.

Below are some portraits of leadership. They are meant to help you, as you reflect on leadership.

Mirror

Leaders look into the mirror to see reality, not to imagine it. The first task of any leader is to look into the mirror and define reality. And reality, by its nature, is ugly, brutal and humbling.

Leaders are mirrors of their organisations.

Reality should never be taken for granted. It is not true that everyone sees it.

Many people would rather live a lie than face reality.

Many would rather avoid the brutal facts of reality than face them.

A good leader will look at reality in the face and swallow its bitter pill.

When leaders stop seeing reality, they start moving on the path of self-deception.

Being deceived by others is bad, and self-deception is worse, more so for a leader.

Why should anyone be led by you?

Button

Leaders are always pressing people’s buttons. When the right buttons are pressed, people deliver breakthrough results and perform miracles.

When the wrong buttons are pressed, there is always trouble in the camp.

This is just a simple way to say leaders, by their actions, motivate or demotivate their charges.

Great leaders inspire and challenge their teams.

No two people have the same buttons.

Some people think the only motivator is the dollar button. Leadership goes beyond this; it taps into people’s potential and abilities. Leaders inspire ordinary people to be great.

Great leaders never leave people at the same place they found them. What type of leader are you?

Orchestra

Great leaders are good orchestra conductors. Great leaders provide focus, and help people grow and synchronise their work efforts.

Great leaders orchestrate various talents and roles to deliver amazing, strategic and breakthrough results.

Every day, leaders have to deal with great complexity. They take in cues from various sources and make judgement calls, some of which could be risky and expensive.

Great leaders do not wish for better circumstances, but work with the circumstances they find themselves in.

A leader who cannot orchestrate and synchronise will not lead for long.

Orchestration has to do with strategy, execution and follow-through, balancing the short- and long-term aspects, faith and fact, as well as big dreams and bold action.

Vinyl record

I have an old gramophone in my office, complete with needles and several albums. I keep the records to remind me of the scratched record principle of leadership.

Leaders must continually articulate priorities and focus on them. If you scratch a vinyl record, it continues to repeat the same lines, over and over again. Great leaders choose a few messages they repeat and repeat and repeat, then repeat once again.

Most leaders say too many things too fast and are always moving to articulate new messages and ideas.

Great leaders stick to a few key messages. For any message to be heard, it must be repeated at least 70 times, seven times, in at least seven ways.

Leadership novices think people hear things the first time you tell them. Leaders are human programmers.

They repeat their core messages and values of their organisations until they are embedded in their teams.

When they feel their teams have now mastered their message, that is when they start sharing the message with new passion.

Great leadership always follows the broken record of communicating.

What are your key leadership messages?

Stand up and be counted.

Lead where you are and make a difference. Stop waiting for the big seat, and get working.

Leadership is not a retirement villa but tough and challenging work.

This is why those who know its value reward it well; everything rises or falls depending on the leadership.

Committed to your greatness.

Milton Kamwendo is a leading international transformational and motivational speaker, author and a virtual, hybrid and in-person workshop facilitator. He is a cutting-edge strategy, team-building and organisation development facilitator and consultant. His life purpose is to inspire and promote greatness. He can be reached at: [email protected] and his website is: www.miltonkamwendo.com

 

Share This:

Survey


We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds