The Best I Can Be

The questions that follow are ones I have contemplated Jolly Old St. Nicholas a number of years. After reading many books and articles, I would like to share my responses with you.

Who is a leader?
What are the responsibilities of a leader?
Does leadership begin when you are young?
What is the definition of a leader?

You are already a leader whether you are just starting out in your career or you have gained the top position in your workplace. Everyone at some point during the day will take on a leadership role. It could happen at work, at home, or as a volunteer. In fact, if you stop and think about yesterday, you can find many times when you were a leader and demonstrated leadership skills.

When you think of yourself as a leader, dont limit yourself to thinking about the workplace. It could be coaching a team, leading a family discussion, sitting on a board of directors, or playing a sport. There are many situations we find ourselves in that require us to be a leader and we hardly recognize it. We can safely say we are all leaders.

You will notice, though, that each time you take on the leaders role, responsibilities come along with it. The first goal to set for yourself is to be the best leader you can be. To be the best, you have to work at being the best; it is Grown-Up Christmas List a gift that you are born with. Leadership is not about objects; it is about people. So to be the best possible leader you can be, you have to know about people. How many times have you heard My boss has no people skills, or He just does not understand people? Probably too many times. How can you be a leader without the skills?

Your first and most important responsibility as a leader is to know and understand people.

I have heard many stories from colleagues and friends about their leaders, supervisors, and bosses not understanding them, not caring about the people they lead, but only being interested in demanding results. There are people in responsible positions who do not show trust but only dictate orders or, even worse, micro-manage.

Where did they learn their style of leadership? Where do we learn our style of leadership?

We can be the best leaders we can be and be more positive and trusting if we learn about leadership early in our lives. We can be taught how to understand people and how to lead in our lives. We can bring with us into our work and our lives a great potential for leadership. But this doesnt often happen. There are many leaders who struggle with being a leader. How do we become the best leaders we can be? We can develop ourselves and create a great potential if we never stop learning about leadership. I had a conversation not long ago with someone who said Love Boat could never be a good leader because he was a high-school dropout. His statement disturbed me. I asked him if he was successful in his business and in his personal life. He said that he was. So why could he not become a great leader? He just looked at me, smiled, and moved on to the next topic. But as we parted company, he asked for few books on leadership I thought he should read. In my enthusiasm to help, I went to my car and gave him a Purplesage Id just purchased. When he finished it and returned it, I said, we could have a discussion.

It is our responsibility to learn and continue to learn to be a leader.

Take Giftsyjtpkhn minutes and define the word leader.

Times up!

Robert Boucher, President Cirrus Management Training and Sailing Inc. To find out how to be successful through your own people, contact me for keynote addresses, meeting facilitation, coaching, or workshops at (613) 634-0696 or href="mailto:boucherd@kos.net">boucherd@kos.net or check my website at www.cirrusleadership.comwww.cirrusleadership.com