Leadership… This word fascinates me.
The dictionary defines it as “the action of leading a group of people” or an organization, or the ability to do this” or “the state or position of being a leader” and my favourite “capacity to lead”.
There have been many different examples of leaders that inspire us, some bold, some courageous, some charismatic and some quietly powerful.
The truth is that each of us leads in some way, whether it is in our family as a mum or dad or as an older sibling. The word leader means that you are in the lead, that you go before others in some way, that you are taking others to a destination. How many of us do this unintentionally? How many of us don’t realise the impact and influence we have on people? How many of us down play who we are to others? What if we became intentional about leading? What if we became intentional about the impact that we have on those in our sphere of influence? Where do we start? And what do we start with?
A good starting point would always be the one who we have the most access to but often this is the one who we neglect the most, the one whom we often direct our most vicious criticism. Ourselves! If we spoke to the people who we loved like we can often speak to ourselves, I am guessing they wouldn’t want to stick around.
Before we can lead others with impact and power we need to learn to self lead or self manage. We need to learn how to manage our own time, our own energy, our own emotions and our own relationships to name a few areas. When we get Mastery in these areas it leads us to be a lot more secure. Insecure leader’s are hard to follow.
So today, become intentional about Leadership and start with the person who looks back at you in the mirror every morning. Start with one small action, but make a start today.
What one thing will you do today that will intentionally grow your leadership skills?
