Do you believe you are a Leader? This belief that you are a leader needs to be a conviction you feel within you; a conviction you have and seek to exhibit in the things you do and in the way you do them. When you think of yourself as a leader, you begin to reason differently, and also do things differently. Wherever you find yourself, it is a good attitude to think of yourself as a leader.
When it comes to leadership, I love to think of these terms, “Growth”, “Self-less Leadership”, “Transformational Leadership”, “Impactful Leadership”. In my thinking and opinion, this is what leadership is about.
Relevant Terms to Live By as a Leader
1. Growth: Because you must keep growing, improving yourself and becoming a better person to lead and serve others better in a selfless, transformational and impactful way.
2. Self-less: This means “less about yourself”. It means that you put the good of others, the common good first, and work towards the greater good of all, and not just a concentration on yourself.
3. Transformational: Because your position, abilities, privileges and benefits are given to you to change what was not good or good enough to something good and exceptional; transform the situation you find and leave it in a much better circumstance.
4. Impactful: Because you are primarily there to touch lives, make positive impact and leave a positive dent in the world. Without influence and impact in the lives of others, and in a transformative way, you are no leader at all. You are only there to serve yourself and your clique.
To be that Leader who makes great impact, it means that you are constantly working on yourself. This is where Leadership becomes a tool for your personal growth. Can you imagine if each of our leaders were focused on working on themselves such that they can through character and action truly serve others and put others first?
When you see yourself as a leader, you need to feel challenged to improve yourself, and them you will begin to capitalize on your strength and then nurture others to bring out the best in themselves too. You become a team with a common goal and supporting one another even in areas you are not strong at. You will begin to see that there is so much more to learn, from others and from everything.
Self-Leadership
As a Leader, the first person you’ve got to lead is YOURSELF. As you make effort in this regard, others will begin to identify with you. You can indeed make self-leadership a Watch Word. Self-leadership means: Self-improvement; constantly studying yourself to see the area to build on; certainly, you should build on your strength.
Self-leadership means: Always thinking, how can I impact others? How much more can I do? What more can I do? Ask yourself What do I want to be remembered for? Begin to work at it like a little empire you want to leave behind.
Self-leadership means: Trusting in the Divine Providence to use you as God pleases; that you become God’s working tool in the lives of others.
15 Things You Can Do as A Leader
A Leader:
- Takes Initiative. Don’t wait to be told if you can take action and make a difference.
- Looks out for the good of the people you are leading and steps up to do the necessary.
- Reads good leadership books. Examples are:”The 360⁰ Leader”, “15 Invaluable Laws of Growth”, “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership”, and “The Leadership Secrets of Jesus”. The 1st three are by John C Maxwell and the last one is by Mike Murdock. These are great books that will change your thinking on leadership.
- Grooms, nurtures, mentors and inspires others and helps them see and explore their own potentials.
- Keeps herself in check, knowing that the leadership journey is a growth journey of self-improvement.
- Keeps in touch with the people so you do not forget or lose touch with what their situation looks like and what they are asking for.
- Initiates and encourages problem-solving and forward-thinking mindset. The solutions to any problem is always somewhere within our reach. It’s just to take time and eyes to see it. And be ready to work it out.
- Does not feel threatened by another who knows better or does better. You remain always humble to learn and so make more impact.
- Is a fisherman who teaches others to fish. She is not there to take from them or exploit them but helps them become more valuable to themselves and learn self-sustenance.
- Has Values and Principles that guide his/her thinking and actions. A leader is not a crowd-follower, a people-pleaser, or a greedy self-seeker.
- Does not prioritize her interests, pocket, stomach or concerns above the needs of the people.
- Has great mentors she looks up to and emulates.
- Is a servant-leader who is fully conscious that she is rendering service to the people and not lording it over them.
- Spends time in silence everyday to get rejuvenated from within. Be a leader that lives from within your inner self, not based on your Ego. For pride goes before a fall.
- Is intentional about the impactful legacy she wants to leave behind her, and she begins to work at it today.
Go out there and become an intentional, growth-oriented, less of self, transformational and impactful leader to others and your legacy will indeed live on after you.
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