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Leadership Is Influence

Guest post by: Paul Vann

Article Overview: Discover how you can become a leader of influence, its a sign of excellence. Exponentially increase your bottom line by influencing the people who work for and with you, enjoy the journey.

Leadership Is Influence

After over 20 years as a military officer in the United States Air Force (USAF), I learned a thing or two about leadership. For all of the hot shot leaders reading this article, if you're not influencing the people that work for and with you, you're not an effective leader.

Having attended every leadership school the USAF had to offer, plus leading people and management acquisition programs, one could say I have seen quite a bit, especially when you factor in be assigned to the Pentagon for over 12 consecutive years.

Do you know if you're an effective leader? Maybe or perhaps, maybe you're not. You'll know whether you are an effective leader if you allow your subordinates and or staff to take on leadership roles within your organization.

One word comes to mind when it comes to leadership and the word is influence. Are you influencing the people that work for you to lead a project, direct the staff in your absence and or provide you with a status update of your organizational goals?

Take a little time to answer the aforementioned question above. The only way to become a leader of influence is to become a lifelong learner. Study the best leaders in your industry, attend leadership programs and position yourself to lead people.

The next thing you need to do is, prepare your subordinates to lead. If you don't prepare the people who work for you to learn how to become a leader, you are not going to be successful. Why?

Positioning members of your staff to occupy a leadership position is a sign of trust. When you give trust, more times than not, you will receive it in return. That's not all; the more leaders you develop within your organization will exponentially increase your productivity and ultimately, your bottom line.

For example, as a young major in the USAF assigned to the Pentagon I was given the opportunity to apply for the Capital Hill Fellowship Program, to work for a member of Congress assigned to the United States House of Representatives. What my leadership was communicating to me was that they trusted me to deliver excellence working on military initiatives important to our organization.

Fortunately, the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University provided courses, so I could learn how the legislative process worked. What an experience, I gained invaluable experience drafting language for bills, securing appropriations for the member's district and recommending bills the members should vote on in support of his constituents.

Make no mistake about it, if you want to become a leader of influence, learn everything you can learn about leadership, find a good mentor, attend leadership programs and lead people. Identify personnel on your staff who have leadership characteristics that can help your organization and teach team what you know.

I encourage you to strive for excellence in your role as a leader of influence. You can change the world through your leadership. Start your journey today and years from now the world will still receive a high return on investment because of your leadership abilities.

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Article Tags: improve the bottom line, influence, leadership, learn about leadership, return on investment, trust



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