LEADITUDE (continuation)

If you choose to take an intensive study on the leadership greats that has ever lived – people like Helen Keller, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana – you will discover that this people have a lot of things in common, which acts as a determinant for their effectiveness in leadership. These people were able to affect millions of lives, pull a huge crowd in a distinctive way and create landmarks in our world because of one thing – Attitude. I’ve always been a firm believer of the fact that leadership is all about solving people’s problems just so they can solve yours in return; and this is what all these great men and women were all about.
This being established, I dare say that it is impossible to be a great leader if you are not touching lives (as this is what really attracts people to you in the first place). Some of the leaditudes to develop on the quest to becoming a great leader are:
1. Selflessness:- there is no better way to define this than saying you have to die to self. A leader on the path to greatness has to learn to put other people’s joy and goals before his own. While this may be very hard to do, it takes a whole lot of discipline to disciple people, and make them follow you. Sometimes you have to sacrifice your joy and convenience for the sake of the people you lead; this takes a whole lot of discipline.
2. Emotional mastery: I’m yet to see a great leader that lacks emotional stability. A leader must be ready to take insults, mess, and failures and in the midst of it all, learn to be strong despite the odds. The reason why these stuffs happen is because as a leader, you are the only one that understands what is really in your head. The best you can do is to communicate a fraction of it to you people. Therefore, when everything doesn’t look like what you’ve painted to them, some of your people won’t mind scolding you and talking you down, even some will leave you and if you are not strong enough, you will lose your essence and sanity, eventually, your integrity and leadership. A real leader must always be emotionally sound as it also helps you make great decisions.
3. Long term thinking: People follow leaders because of the extra in their ordinary. A leader must always have a knack for seeing things before they happen. This attribute will help him navigate storms better and make people respect him for that.