Leadership.

Hi everyone,

Regardless of your political views, I hope that you can enjoy this picture as much as I do.  This picture of Barack Obama is made up of tons of ordinary people and I believe this symbolizes how easy it is to forget the importance of leadership in our own lives and communities while thinking of world leaders like our President. 

Leadership is a characteristic that everyone will find useful at some point in their life.  Whether your leadership is used in deciding where to go for dinner, as a team captain, or as President of the United States of America, everyone needs some leadership abilities.  Although some people are born as stronger leaders than others, I believe that leadership can be learned to some degree.  Everyone can refine and improve their leadership skills.  With leadership, it’s just like your piano teacher, soccer coach, and parents always told you: “practice makes perfect.” =)

Being a leader is about getting the respect of the people that you are leading.  By getting the respect of those that you are leading, you will get their maximum effort.  With this maximum effort, you will get the best possible result.  With this success, putting your best foot forward, you will have nothing to look back upon and regret.  All this being said, none of us are leaders all the time.  We need to balance the roles of leading and following/listening to create a healthy balance in life.  By playing the role of the other position, you will understand where others are coming from and will best improve your role as both a leader and a follower.

Here are some characteristics of a successful leader that you can use in whatever leadership situations you may be in.

1. Lead by Example- everyone likes to follow someone that actually “practices what they preach.”  This is the strongest form of conviction to make others do what you want them to do.

2. Be Led, Not Driven- this may seem somewhat counterintuitive, but hear me out.  When you are driven toward a simple goal, you often forget things along the way, the experiences, the people, and the things that you have done.  In my life, I have turned to God for guidance, something that has helped me to maintain a larger focus and not get overwhelmed by a goal.  Keeping a broad perspective will help you be the best leader you can be.  

3. Be Organized- create a plan to achieve what you want to achieve.  Set reasonable goals and deadlines for you to set yourself up for success.  If you don’t meet them, don’t panic- take a step back and assess what went wrong and what you can learn for the future.  Remember to keep your greater purpose in mind- put things in perspective.  

4. Dedicate Your Time-  I can’t emphasize this enough.  You must devote yourself as a leader, setting the example for those that you are leading.  To set a precedent, you need to be the first one there to set up and the last one there to clean up, and you need to put in the extra time necessary to think things through.  The success of events, teams, and organizations is often a reflection of their leadership, so even if the people you are leading dedicate 70% of the time you do, you’ll be doing great!

5. Take Initiative- do what it takes to plan events, make ideas happen, and stay active.  With this mindset, you will be constantly planning events, putting yourself in a strong leadership position.

6. Be Compassionate, but not a Pushover- this is said best in the Bible where it says, “encourage and rebuke with all authority” (Titus 2:15).  In order to get the best out of others, you need to encourage them, but also correct the things that you believe that they are doing wrong.  If you let problems persist, this can lead to conflict, so be compassionate, but encourage others by showing them how they can do better.

I used all of these tactics as Student Body President of my high school and found that each of these things contributes to being a strong and effective leader.  I would encourage you to get involved and try to have the opportunity to practice leadership skills as they are useful skills to have in life.  That said, you don’t have to have an elected position to use your leadership.  There are plenty of opportunities to use your leadership in everyday life as a friend, sibling, tutor, etc.

So, be strong leaders.  Realize that you need to both lead and follow to be a good leader.   Focus on the big picture and not get too caught up in the small things.  Leadership happens all over the place, so even if you are not labeled as a leader, your leadership skills can still come in handy.  And remember- we can all work on our leadership abilities- practice makes perfect.

Peace,

Tyler