The
Qualities of Skillful Leadership
If you want to be a leader who attracts
quality people, the key is to become a
person of quality yourself. Leadership
is the ability to attract someone to the
gifts, skills, and opportunities you offer
as an owner, as a manger, as a parent.
I call leadership the great challenge
of life.
What's
important in leadership is refining
your skills. All great leaders keep
working on themselves until they become
effective. Here are some specifics:
1) Learn to be strong but not rude.
It is an extra step you must take to
become a powerful, capable leader with
a wide range of reach. Some people mistake
rudeness for strength. It's not even
a good substitute.
2) Learn to be kind but not weak.
We must not mistake kindness for weakness.
Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain
type of strength. We must be kind enough
to tell somebody the truth. We must
be kind enough and considerate enough
to lay it on the line. We must be kind
enough to tell it like it is and not
deal in delusion.
3) Learn to be bold but not a bully.
It takes boldness to win the day. To
build your influence, you've got to
walk in front of your group. You've
got to be willing to take the first
arrow, tackle the first problem, discover
the first sign of trouble.
4) You've got to learn to be humble,
but not timid.
You can't get to the high life by being
timid. Some people mistake timidity
for humility. Humility is almost a God-like
word. A sense of awe. A sense of wonder.
An awareness of the human soul and spirit.
An understanding that there is something
unique about the human drama versus
the rest of life. Humility is a grasp
of the distance between us and the stars,
yet having the feeling that we're part
of the stars. So humility is a virtue;
but timidity is a disease. Timidity
is an affliction. It can be cured, but
it is a problem.
5) Be proud but not arrogant.
It takes pride to win the day. It takes
pride to build your ambition. It takes
pride in community. It takes pride in
cause, in accomplishment. But the key
to becoming a good leader is being proud
without being arrogant. In fact I believe
the worst kind of arrogance is arrogance
from ignorance. It's when you don't
know that you don't know. Now that kind
of arrogance is intolerable. If someone
is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate
that. But if someone is ignorant and
arrogant, that's just too much to take.
6) Develop humor without folly.
That's important for a leader. In leadership,
we learn that it's okay to be witty,
but not silly. It's okay to be fun,
but not foolish.
Lastly,
deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save
yourself the agony. Just accept life
like it is. Life is unique. Some people
call it tragic, but I'd like to think
it's unique. The whole drama of life
is unique. It's fascinating. And I've
found that the skills that work well
for one leader may not work at all for
another. But the fundamental skills
of leadership can be adapted to work
well for just about everyone: at work,
in the community, and at home.
To
Your Success,
Jim Rohn
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