Close your eyes for a while. Think of the face of the person who has/had a great impact and influence in you. He may be your 4th grade teacher. She may be your supervisor in the office. He may be your pastor in the Church. He may be your dad. She may be a leader in your organization. That person may be anyone who touched your heart. Now, the same exercise will be done. Close your eyes. At this time, picture in your mind the face of the person who does/did not have any impact and influence in your life….. I will give you one minute…. Are you done? One more minute…… Are you through? 5 more minutes…. I hope that you have thought of that person now. Why did you have difficulty thinking of the person? The answer is simple. The person may not have any impact and significance in your life. The person does not have a special place in your mind, in your heart and in your life. We don’t waste time thinking and remembering people who are not significant. We don’t care about them because they don’t care about us.
Why are some of your experiences and encounters with selected people still fresh in your mind even though they happened long time ago? Because these people are true leaders. They are leaders in their own way and in their own field. Leaders are those who guide, assist, motivate, encourage and inspire you. They lead you to the level or goal where you ought to be. They bring out the best in you. They push you to the limits. They maximize your potentials. They help you reach your goals and fulfill your dreams. However, these tasks and responsibilities cannot be done by a dealer, but can only be handled by a leader. A person should possess and exhibit leadership qualities, and not dealership skills.
Dealership is founded on position, Leadership is founded on influence. Dealership is based on fear, Leadership is based on respect. A Dealer manipulates people, a Leader influences people. A Dealer commands, a Leader serves. A Dealer thinks of what he can get, a Leader thinks of what he can share. A Dealer enforces, a Leader motivates. A Dealer intimidates, a Leader inspires. A Dealer is inconsiderate, a Leader is caring. A Dealer is selfish, a Leader is selfless. A Dealer drains, a Leader nourishes.
Pause and ask yourself these important questions.
To your kids, are you a leader or a dealer?
To your spouse, are you a leader or a dealer?
To your students, are you a leader or a dealer?
To your parents, are you a leader or a dealer?
To your co-workers, are you a leader or a dealer?
To your friends, are you a leader or a dealer?
To your family and relatives, are you a leader or a dealer?
To the people around you, are you a leader or a dealer?
It’s time to evaluate and improve our relational and leadership skills if you want to make a different in the people’s lives. The words LEADER and DEALER don’t simply differ in the arrangement of letters, but also in the order of values.
I’m personally recommending this Motivational, Inspirational, and Self-Improvement Book for you to develop leadership skills and learn how to inspire, motivate and influence people. Invest in your personal development.

Tags: care, company, influence, leader, leadership, Love, personal development, position, relationship, self help, team

How You Can Become a Strong Leader

How can you become a strong leader who inspires others, drives people toward excellence, holds people accountable, and instills a sense of trust? Learning what makes a great leader is your first step.

A leader is created and the whole process starts inside the most dangerous place you’ll ever encounter – your own mind.

Projecting Strong Leadership

Here are some things you can do to become the leader you’ve always wanted to be and project strong leadership:

1. Know your people.

You can’t truly lead a group of people unless you truly understand their hopes, dreams, struggles, pains, and goals. All the good intentions in the world mean nothing unless you have a true sense of the people you’re working with.

* Talk to your team and get to know them. Getting to know each other on a personal level will strengthen the bond between you. They’ll want to do better for you because you’re more than just a “boss.”


* Be their leader, first, and their friend second. You’re their leader and that means that you have to make difficult decisions from time to time. These decisions cannot be affected by personal relationships.

2. Project your goals.

If the people you’re leading don’t completely understand the deeper meaning in their work, they won’t share your vision or work ethic. Every step of the way, communicate with your team to make sure they’re on the same wavelength and know what you expect of them.

* Get your team involved in the planning process and the implementation of your ideas. This gives everyone a greater sense of ownership toward the end result.

3. Control yourself.

Every great leader in history has had to become a master of self-discipline and willpower in order to stay focused on the big picture. If you don’t have a goal or the drive to achieve it, you can’t lead others to attain theirs.

* Follow through in everything you do. As challenging as it may be, you need to be disciplined enough to be where you need to be, when you need to be there, whether you want to or not. By being strong in your resolve and resisting temptation to give up, you are setting an example for others to live up to.

* Choose your emotional response to a situation carefully. Sometimes you’ll need to practice the art of silencing your inner thoughts when they’re not appropriate in order to set a positive example.

4. Praise highly and criticize constructively.

The way you praise and criticize others can make all the difference in being able to lead effectively.

* Make sure you publicly praise the people who do excellent work for you. You’ll give the person a sense of accomplishment and the drive to do even better.

* When someone does something wrong, offer constructive criticism and do it privately. Suggest solutions on how they can improve and take the time to answer any questions. They’ll accept your input more willingly if they know it’s done to help and not to harm.

5. Make the hard call.

There are times when you have to bite the bullet and make some unpleasant decisions. Firing, demoting, and holding people accountable for their actions can be very hard at times. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to handle these matters.

Leadership or Strong Leader?

Regardless of where your leadership role takes you, believe that you can be a strong leader. Remember that in order to lead others, you must be disciplined yourself. After all, your actions will speak louder than anything you can say.

In order to gain the respect of others, strive to lead by example in every area of your life. When you follow these simple guidelines, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a true leader!

If you find yourself in a position of leadership or power, don’t let it go to your head – that is a weak leader in my opinion! If you want to become a strong leader – re-read the above article and put my tips into action!

Tags: leader, leadership, strong leader

Great Leaders know their Team‘s colours!

What do I mean by that statement? Well, the short version is….a great leader is able to see and utilize peoples talents and deal with their weaknesses effectively! Ok – that’s way too simple – let me explain………

Whatever the situation, one of the responsibilities of a leader is to motivate the team to all work together towards the common goal. This can be a daunting challenge. So often the team is comprised of very diverse members, each with their own strengths, weaknesses, and work styles. The team dynamics are also often complicated by internal disagreements and personal conflicts. The team leader, not only has work with this group of people, but also needs to achieve the results expected by their superiors.

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Leadership is a very challenging task. As leaders we don’t always get to choose who is on our team. In fact very often a leader inherits a team, of which most of the members have been there far longer than the leader, and may even know more about the work than the leader.

All leaders can greatly benefit by being able to identify the types of personality characteristics of team members. By understanding the basic personality types, the leader can use individual strengths of members for the good of the team, as well as assign tasks that individual team member’s naturally excel in. A leader can also learn to communicate in a way that is motivating, by taking into account the needs, values and working preferences of different team members.

A brief overview of the different values and working styles of the four main personality types demonstrates the importance of this knowledge being part of the successful leadership toolbox. The four types of personality will be described using the colours Gold, Blue, Green and Orange.

Orange team members are noticeable by their energy, skill and creativity. A key factor for an Orange is the freedom to be able to use their skills and abilities. If there is too much structure, or their boss is very authoritarian, the orange personality feels blocked and does not function well. Orange personalities like people and work well in a spirit of teamwork, competition and camaraderie. They are action orientated, though and become impatient with prolonged talking and detailed administrative tasks.

A strong Green team member is more noted for expertise rather than people skills. They are excellent working with facts, data, research and analytical projects. Greens shine in their ability for designing, understanding complex systems and strategy. Facts are of utmost importance for the Green, but they have a weakness for routine follow through and are somewhat insensitive in social interactions.

The strong Blue team member needs an open, social atmosphere to be able to work well. Relationships are very important for them, and they need the freedom to be able to nurture relationships with coworkers, customers and employers.. Conflict and intense competition are painful for a strong Blue, but they will thrive in a positive, creative, service orientated atmosphere.

The strong Gold employee takes work and responsibility very seriously. Gold personalities want to contribute, be part of the team, and to be successful and productive. They respond well to recognition, rewards and incentives. However Gold team members need well defined responsibilities and structure, firm expectations and timelines as well as being reassured from authority that they are on the right track.

Great Leaders are made right Here!
A great leader will see the best results by working with and utilizing the strengths and working style characteristics of the personalities on the team. By correctly positioning the individual member strengths and compensating for weaknesses, the leader can bring the team into a productive balance and harmony.

A leader, by knowing the colours of his team, can use this knowledge to blend the team members into a unified, well coordinated picture poised for success. By facilitating each team member to function in their areas of natural strength and motivating them by communicating in a way that inspires harmony and team work, the leader is well on the way to achieving extraordinary results.

What colour team member are you? More often than not people are a mixture of 2 or more colours. Very few are staunchly a one colour person.

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Regardless what colour, Great Leaders will definately benefit from understanding the above information about their team members.

Tell me? Are you a Great Leader?

Tags: great leader, leader, leadership, team, team member

Are you a leader or do you have a leader?
If you are in a lead role, do you take your responsibilities seriously?

Does your boss? do you consider him/her a good boss?
Often our take on people in power is all about how well we perceive them to be doing their jobs and providing leadership skills as a role model.

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Who remembers the movie Spiderman? In it, Spideys Granpa said – “with great power comes great responsibility”.

In all the episodes Sydey appeared in, he never let us down. With the power he possesses, he makes sure to be responsible in using it for the good of the people around him.

The power to lead your people towards aiming at your vision comes with responsibilities like making sure they are on the right track, being aware of each and everyone’s tasks and mistakes, and putting them back on the right track when they get lost.

Leadership is not at all different from being superheroes. You may not have super powers like Superman and Spiderman, but you have the authority to lead other people towards success. This is so much greater and stronger since it is a power that can be used by real people in this real world.

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A leader should take full responsibility for a task – not just before he accepts it, but also after it has been accomplished. As much as he is responsible for his team’s success, he should also be responsible for any failure. He represents the whole team so whatever happens to it, he is the one responsible.

Therefor, being a leader requires great sense of responsibility, the second quality a successful leader should attain.

Is it easy to be the boss or a leader? The short answer is nope!…It comes with tons of responsibilities. True leaders are willing to accept them all.

There are instances where sometimes it makes us feel better to blame somebody or something else when something goes wrong in a task. However, this should not be practiced, especially by a good boss!

You may not have full control over other people and are not expected to have full control over their actions, but you have full control of your own reactions. Knowing what to do over unexpected and unpredictable situations will make you responsible, hence giving you the feeling of power.

Making excuses and blaming something or someone else for failed jobs is not a quality of an established front person. What he should do, instead, is to accept the fact that something went wrong with the organization, even if it is not his fault. It is normal to make mistakes. In fact, mistakes are opportunities to learn something better. As a boss, he must ensure that the team members learn from these mistakes and that these errors will not be repeated next time.

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The best way to be a good leader is to continually update your leadership skills and keep on growing as a person.
If you can do that – you will always be a good leader and be in demand

Tags: leader, leadership, leadership skills

This is a great leadership and appreciation piece and although not written by me, I really liked this article and decided to share it with you – my valued readers!

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For decades, every summer, welcoming his scholarship players, Alabama coaching legend, Paul “Bear” Bryant, asked: “Have you called your folks to thank them? No one ever got to this level of excellence in football without the help of others.”

Bryant didn’t just appreciate the importance of other people in the development of a young athlete; he wanted the athletes to appreciate it too. Such appreciation is also a lesson in leadership. Nobody becomes a successful leader unless others want you to be; you need help; and part of your growth as a leader is to recognize and show appreciation for that help.

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But you’ll give your leadership and ultimately your career a real boost by extending your appreciation not just to the people you like and who are on your side but also to the people you may dislike: the difficult people in your life, those people who for right or wrong reasons cause you grief.

One of the most effective ways of dealing with them is to appreciate them. I mean truly appreciate them. When you do, you may find that you are dealing with them in surprisingly productive ways.

The word “appreciation” comes from a Latin root meaning “to apprehend the value.” In other words, your appreciation of difficult people must be centered on your genuine understanding of the value they offer you and your organization.

You are not just understanding their point of view. You are actually appreciating it; and you are using that appreciation as a tool to get more results, more results than if the difficult people had not entered your life. Otherwise, your appreciation, at least as far as leadership is concerned, is a waste of time.

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Here’s a four step process to make appreciation a results-generator.

(1) Team up. To get appreciation rolling, know that you must be a team, you and the difficult person, in the development of it. Mind you, you’re not trying to get the difficult person to appreciate you. You have little control over the other’s appreciation. You do, however, have control over yours. So, focus on cultivating yours. That cultivation happens only in a relationship — a team relationship with the other person, not necessarily a personal relationship. In a team-relationship, you don’t have to like the other person. You simply have to work with them — actively and wholeheartedly, irrespective of personal feelings. And the goal of your team is to forge out of the difficulties you’re having with one another and a leadership process that achieves results.

(2) Identify. When you’re dealing with a difficult person, you’re often entangled in strong emotions. The first thing to do is, with the person’s help in a face-to-face meeting, get at the precise causes of the difficulties. Try to remove yourself from your emotional entanglements. “Break down” what’s happening the way football coaches break down the plays of opposing teams studying game films. This breaking down is a collaborative process, and it should go like this: First, have the person describe the exact moments when you were having trouble with each other. It’s important to keep focused simply on the physical facts of those moments. What were the specific actions and words that triggered the emotions? When the person gives his/her side of the story then and only then can you give yours. Only when both of you are clear as to those moments and agree on what took place can you start to talk with each other about your feelings connected to those moments of physical action.

For instance, that person may contend you are not listening to what he/she says to you. Have the person describe the exact moment when you were not listening. Where were you? What was being said? Precisely, what gave that person that impression?

(3) Agree. You and the person must agree on what is important in regard to the difficulties you are having. A gap between what you think is important and what the other person thinks must be closed. The test in closing it is results. Does the difficulty you are having with the person go right to the heart of the results you need to achieve?

The person says you don’t listen. Do you agree? Is that person’s perception important? Until you can come to agreement as to whether you were or were not listening and the importance of that, you’ll continue to have difficulties. Which means you won’t be able to go to the next, and most important, step.

(4)Transform. Transform the specific into a results process, a process that will get you increases in results. Without such a process, the previous steps are useless. For instance, let’s say you both come to an agreement that you need to be more attentive when the person is speaking. Then, you might develop a “listening process.” Such a process may involve applying “continuers.” This is a process taught in medical schools to help overbearing doctors be more empathetic with their patients. When interacting with patients, the doctors are taught to say, “uh huh” three times when the other person is talking before saying a word.

Of course, “continuers” are one of many listening processes you can draw on. And clearly, “not listening” is one of many problems one might have with the people you lead. Whatever process you come upon in whatever difficulty you are having with people, that process must achieve specific increases in results — more results than if you had not used the process.

As for the “not listening” example: You may pick out one actionable item from what was being said that can lead to results increases. I worked with a leader who did this. Several people he led accused him of ignoring them, and consequently those people were bucking his leadership. They all sat down around a conference table and went through this four-step process. They developed a process to actively and systematically listen to one another and come to agreement on what was spoken and what was heard. Then they selected actionable particulars that came out of their communication. They made sure they followed through on implementing those particulars to achieve increases in hard, measured results.

Like the poor, the people who cause us difficulties will always be with us. No matter how experienced and successful you are as a leader, difficult people will always be lined up outside your door, wanting into your life. Moreover, there are probably a lot of them inside the door too, trying to cut you down to size, thwart your plans, besmirch your reputation.

Instead of clashing with them or avoiding them, try appreciating them. When you use this process, you may find that they’re not liabilities but assets.

2006 © The Filson Leadership Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

I dont know if its where I’m at in life – but this article on leadership and appreciation made really good sense to me – how about you?

Tags: appreciation, leadership