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Become a Leader of Leaders

Written by: Lindel James

Article Overview: Leaders draw people to themselves and as a leader you must build strong people skills. This skill is important no matter what you do in life. When people are comfortable being around you and when they feel good being in your space you can be effective.

Become a Leader of Leaders

Leaders draw people to themselves and as a leader you must build strong people skills. This skill is important no matter what you do in life. When people are comfortable being around you and when they feel good being in your space you can be effective. I was talking with some staff nurses at a local hospital recently. They remarked that one of the surgeons on staff makes everyone feel special and important whether they are a staff person, a patient or a visitor. They felt people would follow this particular doctor without blinking an eye because he makes things happen at the hospital and in the community. He is a true leader and is appreciated by many.

Good people skills will make you. Bad people skills will break you. Celebrate and enjoy people. Make everyone you meet feel very important. It's that small things that count. Smile, and take the time to say hello. Ask people about themselves, their families, and their business.

You will soon differentiate yourself from others because most people are so wrapped up in themselves they don't consider the other person first. Have direct eye contact, a firm handshake, and a respectfully clear voice. When looking at others, look in their right eye to maintain contact and a genuine sense of interest.

Provide a space for people to succeed. This is truly a leadership skill. Finding this space for people to win is so important and will secure your own success at the same time. Remember, you are a leader of leaders -- successful leaders.

Think big! Provide yourself with huge goals and support these goals with measurable action plans and strategies. Hold yourself accountable to your plans and continually measure and tweak them as necessary. Never let go of the original goal -- just make it bigger. The timeline may need to be adjusted and the work plan may need to be adjusted, but the bottom line should remain solid. Share these goals with others and as you come to completion of each goal, celebrate your achievements. When others see you establish goals, commit to and work your action plan and celebrate milestones, they will know you have what it takes to lead and to achieve. "Seeing is believing" as they say, and your personal demonstration of following a success plan will gain you another rung on the leadership ladder. Share your passion, share your goals and share your success. People want to participate on winning teams. When they win, you win. What a concept!

Pick your associates carefully. Who are you sharing your time with? You must really think about who we want to be and with whom we are sharing our time. We know the saying that "we become like the five people that we spend the most time with." The question is: "are you spending your time with leaders and winners?" People are watching you and as a leader, you must watch yourself.

Think about your circle of influence. Believe me this is an important area in your life to look at. Are your present circle of friends and associates building you up or dragging you down? What are their goals and aspirations? Are they tracking in the same manner as yours? When you have casual time, do you get the opportunity to share and discuss issues with them that will enhance your life? Are the conversations meaningful and fun for you?

You may want to think about creating another circle of friends; people who are not negative or exhaust you. What a joy it is to spend time with people who love what they do and have much to share for the benefit of both of you.

Continually examine what's working and what isn't working in your life and business.

You must use good analytical skills in order to quickly tweak your plan or your product before you go too far down a disastrous road. You must keep data, and use this data to monitor what is working and not working. Don't be afraid of the numbers. The numbers are the source of the success or failure in your business. Numbers allow you the freedom to be flexible. Keep good records. If you are not a numbers person solicit support in this area.

For example, you need to know what is selling well what isn't. Who is visiting your website, how often? Are they signing on for more information? Do your customers appreciate your newsletter? There are some great survey and analytical resources available to you; use them!

Distribute surveys. Short surveys to help you get the feedback you need to quickly turn things around.

When we rely on customers, as we all do, remember, their feedback is invaluable to our success. Your success level once again raises your leadership profile. I firmly believe that we don't become successful leaders in a vacuum. We all need constant feedback from others to succeed. However, you must never totally equate success with strong leadership skills. They are really two different things. Business Success is a result of activity and market share. Leadership is a skills based trait and requires us to sincerely respect others as largest aspect of this skill.

Continually work to perfect your skills. Always strive to learn more and become better at whatever it is that you do. Someone once said that "a laurel rested on, soon wilts." Leaders are always working to improve their skills and in doing so they put themselves in a position to share with others. Practice, practice, practice. Especially practice what you preach. It's Integrity.

A leader has strong integrity. That is the key!

When you are in a position to care enough about other people; to care about their success; to offer others the space to win, and the skills to win, and the attitude of sharing your knowledge with others to help create their wins, then you are in the enviable position of being a Leader of Leaders!!!

Congratulations!!!

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Article Tags: bottom line, eye contact, genuine sense, handshake, leadership skill, local hospital, measurable action, smile, staff nurses, staff person, time to say hello, timeline, true leader



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Re: The Celebrity Apprentice Finale - [quote="Tami Szabo":2pue96vy]I agree that I would have loved to have seen Piers and Carol on the homestretch together. It would have been VERY interesting. Speaking of interesting... I noticed you could imagine Carol in either role of leader or partner. That's the ideal person I like to work with. When I asked you about who you wanted to work with, I forgot to clarify that I meant in a "leadership" capacity. However, I see what you mean about Jennie and Lennox being great co-workers. I don't see them as leaders either, but definitely people who would be great to have at my side.[/quote:2pue96vy] Hi Tami, I'm the type of person who responds better to "leaders" who are respectful and trust in my abilities, so I don't think I'd like it if Piers was calling me names, pressuring Stephen while he was trying to sell tickets or overstepping on Carol's duties (e.g. Carol was responsible for the food, but Piers instructed the staff to with hold it so that the guest would get drunk faster). I don't like leaders who feel the need to micro-manage because if they think they can do the job better themselves, then why ask someone else to do it in the first place? Back in school a long time ago... I think we did a personality test and I turned out to be a "negative leader" or "negative follower", haha. I can't really recall what either means, but the other outcomes would've been a "positive leader" or "positive follower".
Re: Politeness! - The Scouts were probably nervous and very uncomfortable doing what they were being made to do, and that is understandable. I put the onus on the leaders to properly coach and encourage the attending Scouts to be properly appreciative towards contributors. I see this instance as a possible failing of the leaders. Perhaps the leaders would benefit from a letter offering friendly feedback? GT :-]
Insecure Leaders - I'll take a bet on some business leaders being insecure in their position and if they ask anyone else for help they might get shown up! Another reason might be to do with ego and as you say, it could be a sign of weakness. For the smart business leader it's a matter of finding the people who will actually benefit the business rather than a consultant just trying to sell themselves primarily for their own benefit. I find that most companies who try to sell me something "beneficial" are trying to benefit themselves first.
Re: The Celebrity Apprentice Finale - I agree that I would have loved to have seen Piers and Carol on the homestretch together. It would have been VERY interesting. Speaking of interesting... I noticed you could imagine Carol in either role of leader or partner. That's the ideal person I like to work with. When I asked you about who you wanted to work with, I forgot to clarify that I meant in a "leadership" capacity. However, I see what you mean about Jennie and Lennox being great co-workers. I don't see them as leaders either, but definitely people who would be great to have at my side.
Re: Another Moderator Tip - Hi GT / Trent - great ideas. We run on phpbb3 so if there is a plugin you think we should install I can definitely look into it. It's also based on a MYSQL database so we can run queries against it (like we do for the recent forum posts, contest leaders, and all-time leaders across the top). If you can think of a report we can generate that would help then I can also look into it!


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