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| The bee at work at a sunflower in Burnham Park in Baguio City |
by Jim Rohn
( I have been through highs and lows in my career. One thing constant though is my belief that I am a leader and a good one at that. I have led from as many as thirty-three engineers at one point and three nationalities at another. I am at a point in my career that I am not exercising much leading as I don't have subordinates reporting under me. Still, the leadership growth is a never ending process ...the only time I will stop being a student is when I have come to the end of my journey on this earth. Let's keep growing! )
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the
key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to
attract someone to the gifts, skills, and opportunities you offer as an owner,
as a manager, as a parent. What’s important in leadership is refining your
skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become
effective. Here are some specifics:
Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you
must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some
people mistake rudeness for strength. It’s not even a good substitute.
Next, learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake
weakness for kindness. Kindness isn’t weak. Kindness is a certain type of
strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind
enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to
tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
Next, learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to
win the day. To build your influence, you’ve got to walk in front of your
group. You’ve got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first
problem, discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any
rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the
rain and the bugs straight on. You’ve got to seize the moment.
Here’s the next step. You’ve got to learn to be humble but
not timid. You can’t get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake
timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It’s an
affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem.
In addition to reading and listening, you also need a chance
to do some talking and sharing. I have some people in my life who help me with
important life questions, who assist me in refining my own philosophy, weighing
my values and pondering questions about success and lifestyle.
Humility is almost a God-like word. A sense of awe. A sense
of wonder. An awareness of the human soul and spirit. An understanding that
there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life.
Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the
feeling that we’re part of the stars.
Here’s a good tip: Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It
takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes
pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is
to be proud without being arrogant.
Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from
ignorance. It’s intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate
that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that’s just too much to take.
The next step is learning to develop humor without folly. In
leadership, we learn that it’s okay to be witty but not silly; fun but not
foolish.
Next, deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the
agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is. Life is unique. The whole drama
of life is unique. It’s fascinating.
Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work
well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental
skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at
work, in the community, and at home.
To Your Success! See you at the finish line my friend =)
