Lolly Daskal's Blog, page 117

The 5 Times Your Leadership Is Guaranteed to Fail

We all want leadership to be successful. But some circumstances are reliable pointers  to failure. Learn what they are and how to avoid them.

Done right, leadership is difficult. It brings great rewards, but at great risk. You have to put yourself on the line—so when you do, you want the best possible odds of success.

In some situations, though, failure is all but guaranteed. Here are five of the most common. Get to know them so you can steer far clear.

1. When there is no trust. Leadership is about credibility and reliability; to be an effective leader, your followers must have trust in you. That’s why it’s critical to always take responsibility for your actions. Make sure your people feel guided and supported in their work and show that they can trust your leadership.

2. When there is no character. Leaders build excellence—helping their team become all that they are capable of. To reach that level of excellence requires leadership that is grounded in character. Excellence starts with leaders of strong character who model doing what is right, not what is easy.

3. When there is no communication. No one ever became a great leader without first becoming a great communicator. Successful leaders connect with people on an emotional level every time they speak. Their words build relationships, teach, and inspire others. Great communication also means listening well and treating your team with candor and honesty.

4. When there is no respect. You can’t lead anyone who doesn’t respect you, and it’s hard to lead those you don’t also respect. Respect must be first given before its earned. That means thinking about every small thing you do as a leader and how it is perceived. Leaders who know how to give the utmost respect will receive respect, in the form of loyalty and performance.

5. When there is no ability. To be successful requires tactical and technical proficiency. In any organization it is the leader’s capabilities and performance that set the tone for the team’s engagement. Leadership is empty without an understanding of the work at hand, and the best leaders work constantly to improve their expertise.

How is your own leadership looking? Are you doing what it takes to propel it forward?

Lead from within: Decide what kind of leader you going to be—the kind who is content to think of themselves as the best, or the one of the few greats whose leadership achieves the highest levels.

 

Additional Reading:

How to Become A Leader You Admire

Let Your Leadership Speak For Itself

Why Do We Have To Make Others Wrong To Be Right

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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12 Powerful Lessons I’ve Learned Being a Leadership Coach

In my career as a leadership coach, I’ve been fortunate to work with amazing people. Some have been small-business owners or department heads of medium-sized organizations. Some have been senior executives of multinational corporations and government leaders. From each person, I have learned some powerful lessons. I hope they will be useful in your leadership:

1. Everyone has the same basic wants and needs. Everyone wants to be seen and heard, appreciated and acknowledged. In life and in business, it’s not so much what you say that counts as how you make people feel, so let others hear you express your respect and gratitude for what they do.

2. Don’t try to read other people’s minds, and don’t make other people try to read yours. Just communicate. People will never know how you feel or what you think unless you tell them. If you want your point of view to be heard, you have to tell people what you’re thinking. It’s that simple.

3. Your past is here to teach you about your future self. You cannot hold on to the past, but you can learn from it. Don’t make the mistake of trying to stay in the past—life is about learning lessons and taking those lessons forward with you into your life.

4. Everyone has a story and everyone has complications in their life. Each person we meet has their own difficulties and hardships. What might be bad for one might change another person’s life for the better. You have to accept people as they are instead of trying to change them.

5. Don’t try to please everyone, but do what you know is right. If you are busy trying to please everyone, at the end you will end up pleasing no one. There will come a point when you will get tired of the game, and that’s when you’re free to come into your own.

6. You don’t have to be perfect, you just have to be real. If you are busy trying to be a perfect person, you will probably miss the opportunity to be imperfectly happy. The most important part of your life is to be exactly who you are, and the most important thing you need to think about is not being perfect but being authentic, genuine, and heart-centered.

7. Speaking truth is always the best policy. Living a life of honesty creates peace of mind, and peace of mind is priceless. Period.

8. How you spend your day shows what is important to you. Every day you are faced with two choices: you can aimlessly stumble through, not knowing what is going to happen and simply reacting to events as they come. Or you can spend your time on what is important to you, directing your own life and making your own decision on what is most important to you. The choice will always be yours.

9. Change is inevitable; you must learn to be embrace it. Whatever your circumstances are now, they will change—that is one thing you can count on. So embrace change and realize that it happens for a reason, even if it isn’t apparent at first.

10. It’s the small things that matter most. Enjoy the little things, because one day you may look back and discover they were the big things.

11. The harder you work, the luckier you will get. Sometimes your natural fear of failure will sometimes stop you from trying new things, but you must rise above your fears and work hard at what you love, because success comes from the accumulation of many small unique experiences. The more experiences, the more luck.

12. Invest time and energy in yourself. When you invest in yourself you can never lose, and over time you will change the trajectory of your leadership and life. The more energy you spend on acquiring self -awareness, wisdom and knowledge, the more control you will have over your life.

Lessons to take to heart…We all struggle the same; we all suffer the same; we all want happiness and a good life just the same.

Lead From Within: Every person has something to teach us, and sometimes the most important lessons are the ones that come to us from being around others.

Additional Reading:

Let Your Leadership Speak For Itself
Codes Of Conduct To Lead
How to Become A Leader You Admire

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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5 Things You Can Never Get Back as a Leader

Mistakes happen and sometimes our mistakes can change things permanently.

They might be the truest words ever spoken: Nobody’s perfect but things happen.

We all make mistakes. Most of the time we recover and move on, and learn something on the way if we’re paying attention.

Especially for someone in a position of leadership, though, there are some mistakes that cause lasting harm. And as the computer warning says, “This action cannot be undone.” be aware of the distinction.

Here are some mistakes you can never take back as a leader:

1. A word that’s been said. As a leader, you never want to express a bad mood with bad words. You’ll have many opportunities to change your mood, but hurtful words, once said, can never be taken back. We may worry about leaving an electronic trail with texts and e-mail, but the words we say out loud are in some ways even more permanent.

2. A stone that’s been thrown. It’s easy to judge others, but judgment often has a way of turning on us—and you may someday find yourself equally misunderstood. It’s especially important for those of us in leadership to be extremely mindful. Everything has consequences.

3. Trust that’s been broken. You cannot be a great leader without trust, built on a long steady history of being reliable, dependable and credible. Trust is the power to inspire and influence, the glue that bonds us to each other—and it’s easily broken. Leaders who understand the value of that trust will safeguard it carefully.

4. Time that’s passed. We need time to work, time to eat, time to sleep, time to accomplish all that we need to do. We also need time to know and to understand and to learn and to cultivate great relationships. Time is among the most precious of gifts, and once it’s passed it’s gone forever. Each one of us has 24 hours a day, and no one else can live it for us. It can feel infinite at times, but in truth it’s a limited and nonrenewable resource, so treat it with the care it deserves.

5. An opportunity that’s been missed. If we’re lucky, we get a chance, maybe even more than one, to get the life we want. And few things are worse than the realization that you’ve missed a life-altering opportunity. But don’t waste time grieving—instead, learn to seize the moments as they come.

There will be times we mess up, and some of them will involve things we can’t take back. The trick is to own up to our mistakes and be accountable. That’s how we earn respect and learn to do better next time.

Lead from within: Good people sometimes make bad decisions and take wrong actions; they mess up and let themselves and others down, but that doesn’t make them bad people. We all make mistakes—just don’t make the same ones twice.

Additional Reading:

How to Become A Leader You Admire

How To Make The Most Of Our Mistakes.

Let Your Leadership Speak For Itself

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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What Happens When Pride Gets in the Way of Leadership

Like many things in life, pride can be either a positive or a negative.

It’s a great and appropriate thing to feel when you’ve worked hard to accomplish something difficult.

But when pride becomes too entangled with ego, it comes across as arrogance.

This kind of pride can be personally destructive and dangerous to the effectiveness your leadership.

Here are seven danger signs to watch for:

Conceit. Humility is one of the greatest values in leadership, and leading with pride and conceit only advertises the absence of humility. Unsurprisingly, those who care about only themselves and understand only their own perspective are often the most miserable. Stay on track by making sure everyone on your team has voice, value, and their fair share of the credit.

Superiority. When you set yourself above everything around you, you make sure that others are forced to look up to you. On the other hand, your own view is limited if you’re always looking down on everyone and everything. It’s a serious failure of perspective. Remember to stay focused not on how important you can become, but on how much of a difference you can make.

Arrogance. Even less desirable than conceit or superiority is arrogance, which combines an elitist view with aggressive and even destructive tendencies. Arrogant leaders don’t care what they harm as long as they come out on top. If you find yourself feeling wanting to help yourself have more, be first, or take more than your share of credit, it’s time for a change.

Narcissism. Self-esteem is good, of course, but the narcissistic leader has an overdose level. They’re secretly sure that they’re smarter or better than anyone else, and they’d far rather be admired than cared for. The results? Vanity, entitlement, and exploitation. The best cure is to stay connected to your responsibility to others.

Selfishness. You cannot be a great leader and be selfish. Pride demands to be served with a show of respect, but leadership is about stewardship and the willingness to serve. Serving others requires us to focus on their needs rather than our own, and it reminds us of how we are part of something bigger than ourselves.

Entitlement. Great leadership is about expressing gratitude. But those suffering with undue pride believe they truly deserve every good thing that comes to them—and more. There is something about saying “thank you” that takes our eyes off of ourselves and puts them back onto others.

Self-absorption. The self-absorbed person brings all topics back to themselves. They counter loneliness and isolation by putting themselves at the center of every conversation, every project, every idea—when the true cure for isolation is exactly the opposite.

If your pride pushes you toward performing with excellence, doing your best, and finding joy in the accomplishments of yourself and others, it’s probably helping you become a better leader.

But if pride is about taking the credit, feeling superior, and exploiting your relationships, then pride is a problem. It’s a problem that’s often grounded in low self-esteem and fear, so those are good starting places for the tough work of self-correction.

Lead from within. Leading with pride can be a problem when it begins to hurt both our life and our leadership. The test we must set for ourselves is not to march alone but to march in such a way that others will wish to join us. That is leadership.

 

Additional Reading:

How Ego Can Edge Out Greatness

Spend Your Time Feeding Your Soul

Be Distinct: Find The Hero Within

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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Learn How to Manage What Triggers You

If we don’t learn how to manage our triggers, our triggers will manage us, and therefore, we must learn how to manage our triggers successfully.

Our emotional triggers are created from past negative experiences. When we are placed in a position similar to that negative experience, strong emotions are stirred up, and the ensuing reactions can lead to emotional difficulties—maybe even regrettable outbursts. Triggers can appear anywhere in our relationships or communication, and left unchecked, they will control us.

But the choice of how we respond will always be ours.

We can allow our triggers to set us off and control us, or we can manage them and discipline ourselves. The good news is that there are ways to can address these triggers and reduce our negative reactions to them.

Here are some powerful ways to manage triggers:

Listen to your body. The moment you get triggered, you may experience a physical response. Your breathing may get shallow or your chest may tighten. You may suddenly feel that your head is about to explode. Whatever form it takes, learn to pay attention to your body’s signals. Listen to your body so you can stay ahead of the trigger.

Behavior tells. Sometimes strong emotions come up and we have no idea what triggered them. But by paying close attention over time to the situations where you become agitated or annoyed and you aren’t even sure why, you can identify the types of things that tend to trigger you. This makes it easier to work with them.

Stay in touch with your feelings. Our emotions signal to us what is going on for us within. By staying emotionally honest with yourself and recognizing the cues of your emotions, you’ll be able to identify what you’re feeling and why—and do something about it.

Expand your tolerance. It’s natural to want to avoid triggering people or circumstances. That may be possible and even good when you’re in the early stages of learning to manage your triggers, but it isn’t usually realistic in the long run. Slowly allow yourself to take on more triggering experiences, reminding yourself to slow and control your responses, then build on that success until it’s no longer a problem

Take a time out. Distract yourself by giving yourself a time out. Stepping back can help you calm down before you re-engage with a situation. You can use this time to think about the emotions you’re experiencing and how to address them in a positive way. Do something that can create an opposite emotion—if you are stressed, think of things that will calm you down.

Create a new habit. Long term, to avoid being triggered at all, you need to work to create new habits of mind—not to break down what your have built for yourself, but to build a better life by making small changes. When you create a new habit for positive change, you will experience long-term effects on your emotions and how you mange them. Work toward self-improvement by taking small steps each day. Do something that helps you feel competent and more in control to regulate your emotions and gives positive feedback for your sense of purpose.

We must learn how to manage our triggers successfully, before they overpower our leadership.

LEAD FROM WITHIN: We all have our own unique emotional triggers. Learning to mange them constructively enables us to deal with the issues that get in our way and move ahead in our lives and leadership.

Additional Reading:

How Does EGO Edge Greatness Out
The Power of Parting: 7 Things You Need To Stop Doing
Codes Of Conduct To Lead

Photo Credit: Getty Images

 

 

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Make The Most Of Your Potential

He told me he regretted not having more influence as a leader. He felt he had missed out on becoming something more then he was and it left him with deep regret. As his coach, I knew I had to put things into perspective for him.

How much time do we waste wishing we’d had the potential to be more and do more?

The truth is in life you have to make the most of your own potential. You cannot wish yourself into becoming who you think you could have been, or should have been. You have to learn instead to understand who you are and what you are capable of, and build on that foundation.

So how do you realistically make the most of your potential?

Here are some starting places:

Be accountable to yourself. The worst thing you can do in leadership or life is to shrink from responsibility and blame others for not having done your best or met your own expectations. As the saying goes: If it is to be, it’s up to me. The place to begin is always to be accountable to yourself and responsible for the consequences of your choices.

Celebrate your talents. Too many of us fall prey to imposter syndrome, convincing ourselves that we don’t have the strength or the talent to make it as the leaders we want to be. Don’t focus on your weaknesses but celebrate your abilities. When you do, you make the most of your gifts and set a model for others to see their talents.

Don’t compare yourself to others. Comparing yourself with others, simply put, is a waste of your precious time. Hold yourself to only one standard: the best version of yourself you can possibly be. Know that as you lead, you don’t have to measure up to anyone but your own ideals.

Know you are enough. As leaders, we always feel we need to be doing more, fixing more, mentoring more, saving more. But you can’t fix everything or be everything to everyone. It’s possible to give of what you have to offer, still allowing others to find their way, and let that be enough.

Make every day the best it can be. As Coach John Wooden once said, “Make every day a masterpiece.” If you consistently give your best of who you are, you will assuredly make your life into something special.

It is in owning our potential that we can live and lead without regrets.

Lead from within: Make the most of your potential and gifts; meet every opportunity with the best of what you have to offer, and know that is enough.

 

Additional Reading:

Let Your Leadership Speak For Itself
Codes Of Conduct To Lead
How to Become A Leader You Admire

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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When Turning Points Become Touchpoints

Every major challenge we face, every adversity we bump into, comes with a decision—a fork in the road.

These turning points, the moments when we decide which way we will go, can become touchpoints in our lives.

Each one of us will face several of these moments. They’re the changes that change us—whether they’re happy or unhappy experiences, professional or personal, pertaining to health, relationships, or money. And they can lead us to breakdowns or breakthroughs.

The choices we make create the narrative of our lives. Before you face your next turning point, take note of the ways you can deepen it into a touchpoint:

1. Unmask the real you. If your self-image is based on someone you’ve been pretending to be, it’s time to get real. Don’t allow self-deception to shadow you from who you are; don’t justify or blame. You can’t befriend who you think you want to be, only who you are and who you are meant to be.

2. Embrace openness and flexibility. The most precious opportunities present themselves when you come to a place where you don’t think you can handle what’s happening. It is those moments—basically, when life has just nailed you—that you’re free to stop manipulating circumstances, to let go of trying so hard. When you have no choice but to embrace what is happening, you can discover your own flexible edge.

3. Take in the hard lessons. It’s human nature to look upon a challenge or crisis as bad news. And they do cause pain, no doubt. But it’s possible to become the kind of person who is hungry to know what the complications are really about—who can go beyond the pain and dive deep into the wisdom and lessons that are present in those moments, who can lean in instead of collapsing or backing away.

4. See the bigger picture. When times are tough, it is hard to see beyond our own perspective. But when you can back up to see the bigger picture, you’ll be able to see your own path through to the other side. Instead of remaining frozen and stuck in the experiences that brought you to this point, it’s a time to gather your mental strength, to look beyond what is happening in the moment and bravely face ahead.

5. Surrender to what is. The worst difficulties for many of us are the ones we create for ourselves. You can overcome so much by looking within, studying your true self, and letting that self be. When you can see and surrender instead of denying and fighting and trying to escape, you are able to create a point of clear, peaceful truth.

6. Remember you’re part of something bigger. Times are difficult globally, and awakening ourselves is not a personal luxury or an ideal. It’s critically important if we are to contribute to the store of good in the world instead of adding more discouragement and anger to what’s already here. Instead of remaining cocooned in our private misery, we can connect the touchpoints we create to build the positivity and goodness that our world desperately needs.

7. Make the path the goal. It’s not the destination that matters but the path itself. Of course, everything has a beginning, a middle, and an end. But our deepest goal is not to arrive at the end but to fully experience the journey, individually and together.

Lead From Within: Our turning points will be the opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves, they will come our most significant touchpoints.

Additional Reading:

Why You Need to Lead With a Higher Standard to Succeed
The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed
What Leadership Is Not

Photo Credit: Getting Images

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Why You Need to Lead With a Higher Standard to Succeed

Today, many people believe it’s impossible to be successful in the world of business, leadership, or politics and still maintain integrity.

Some believe that the purpose of leadership is to acquire power and dominance.

Many believe that business decisions are less effective if there is a serious consideration for moral matters.

But the standard of leadership depends not only on the qualities and beliefs of our leaders, but also on the expectations we have of them.

As long as we believe our leaders lack integrity, our expectations are likely to be confirmed in their conduct.

Therefore it’s up to each one of us to improve our own standard of leadership.

It’s imperative that we raise our expectations of rising leaders—and especially of those we choose to lead us.

How do we exercise this responsibility?

Here are some ways to start:

Lead from within. Set the example—in how you live, how you lead, how you act, how you speak. Demonstrate your high standards through your own actions and words. Leadership that does not originate within will not be congruent with the rest of your life and will reduce the legitimacy of your leadership. Set the example by focusing on your own accountability.

Live by a code of conduct. Too many of us have come to accept that a lower moral standard is necessary to get things done. This double standard of conduct is fueled by the idea that we have to win at all costs. The evidence is everywhere, from judging the accomplishments of others to worrying only about the bottom line. Don’t give in to moral ambiguity and half-truths.

Make a commitment. Leading by a higher standard means making and holding true to a commitment to your best effort. Even if you know you will not be able to attain perfection, that should never be the excuse for not committing to get as close as you can. Every step is about understanding yourself and the needs of your people so you can serve them in a way that deepens the bond between you, moving them and your organization toward a higher standard. Shared experiences create deep understanding.

Evaluate your actions. Constantly evaluate your actions with an objective to try to do everything a little better tomorrow than you did it today. Continuous improvement and constant evaluation is the path to a higher standard in leadership.

Train your conscience. Slippery slopes abound, and to consistently see the difference between compromising your standards and taking the high road, you need to give your conscience a workout. Train your mind to monitor your thoughts and always be reflecting.

Dare courageously. Each step of higher standard leadership takes courage. Courage is powerful because it means you are all in with what is right and you are willing to accept the consequences. At the end leadership is a way of life, and a courageous life is a life worth living.

Ask for assistance. Maintaining high standards is not an easy path, especially when it seems everyone else is going in the opposite direction. When you find yourself being challenged, ask someone for help. (And, on the other side, give freely when you’re asked.) Find and associate yourself with colleagues who share your commitment to leading with integrity.

Serve lovingly. Sometimes you have to be tough and tell others what they may not want to hear. Leading with love doesn’t mean you always agree; it means you stand for what you think is right, including the well-being of your team.

It starts with you. Each one of us make take a stand to be governed by our principles, to be the leader who makes our people our passion, to be the business that makes their people and customers top priority.

Lead from within: Each one of is setting the example for someone else. Each one of us has to be responsible to shape the future as we wish it to be.

Additional Reading:

Intelligence is Important but Integrity Matters More
Reputation Matters But Character Leads The Way
Codes Of Conduct To Lead

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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The Dilemma Of The Servant Leader

Most servant leaders pride themselves on being leaders who—well, serve. And most do.

They serve people with compassion, empathy, listening, and healing.

Richard is an excellent leader and a smart man. I’ve been coaching him for years. but recently he told me he felt he was failing as a leader.

I was seriously shocked to hear him say this, because I know him, and as a leader he is one of those people you automatically admire.

So why would a great man and an even better leader feel like he was failing?

As he spoke, I realized that his dilemma lay in the fact that most of us have made leadership into something that is unreachable and unattainable, something that’s bigger than us.

As a result, we have potentially great leaders who have paralyzed themselves with worry that their leadership will never do well.

We’ve made leadership about changing the world. We’ve taken the title of leader and we treat it as if it’s something that one day we’re going to live up to, and on that day we’ll finally be able to call ourselves a leader.

And I worry sometimes that we spend so much time celebrating amazing things—things that hardly anybody can do—that we’ve convinced ourselves that those are the only things worth celebrating, and in so doing we devalue the things we can do every day.

Richard is and will always be a servant leader, a man who leads from within. The people who interact with him every day can vouch for that.

But he is also human.

Sometimes he cannot be there the way he wants to be. That fact of life was causing him to feel less successful as a servant leader, when in truth he is the best kind: an imperfect person with a perfect giving heart.

With the right attitudes and actions, the rest of us imperfect humans can also be effective servant leaders.

Here’s how:

Lead from within. If you are driven to serve others and you make a conscious choice to lead from who you are, with your passion, your perseverance and your sensitive heart, you are a servant leader.

Know how to listen. Practice and value the art of listening, and remember that listening is one the most sincere forms of respect you can give someone. When you truly listen—listen to understand, not to set up your own speaking points—you are expressing that you care. When you can show up with a listening heart, you are a servant leader.

Embrace empathy. When you understand that empathy means seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another, you are a servant leader.

Inspire and motivate. Servant leaders inspire motivation. They can rally the troops in crisis, they can bring together people in difficult times, and they can make people feel important and valued. When you can speak to others knowing that everyone is afraid of something, everyone loves something and everyone has lost something, you are a servant leader.

Be aware. A deep level of self-awareness allows us to relate our unique gifts and talents to this new economy, our complex world, and the ways in which we can help others. Self-awareness builds strength. But making a commitment to grow in awareness can be frightening, because sometimes we uncover our own imperfections. If you can accept who you are in that imperfection and remain aware of yourself, you are a servant leader.

Have vision. Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Leaders create a vision; they passionately own it, they articulate it and they relentlessly drive it into being. People buy into a leader before they buy into the vision. When you have a vision that people care about, when you uplift that vision and the performance of those who support it to a higher standard, you are a servant leader.

Commit to the growth of people. Encourage those around you to grow; make it safe for people to take risks and make mistakes. Servant-leaders believe that people have an intrinsic value beyond their tangible contributions as workers. If you’re deeply committed to the personal, professional and spiritual growth of every individual within the organization, you are a servant leader.

Build communities. Leadership is about building a sense of community. Servant-leaders seek to identify a means for building community so they can overcome isolation and actively move toward a congregation of brotherhood and sisterhood, a company—in every sense of the word—where people feel safe and cared for. If you do this, you are a servant leader.

In large and small ways, servant leaders listen, empathize, inspire, elevate, and foster individual and community growth. They bring people together to accomplish something meaningful and compelling.

Richard’s dilemma was centered in the belief that he couldn’t be human. But it is the sheer acceptance of our humanity that makes us great leaders.

Lead From Within: Think about the leaders you know—the ones you admire, the ones who serve. Find a way to let them know that any imperfections make them, in fact, perfect servant leaders.

 

Additional Reading:

The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed

What Leadership Is Not


Love is a Leadership Competency

Photo Credit: Getty Images

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The One Quality Every Leader Needs To Succeed

If you are going to be a leader or hold a leadership position, there’s one quality you absolutely require to be successful.

You need to be a seeker.

A seeker is someone who is always searching.

Seekers bypass mediocrity and are not content to settle for the status quo.

They search for excellence with integrity and character.

To be a great leader, commit to seeking in everything you do:

Seek your true character. Leadership grows from character. Don’t be concerned with your reputation; instead seek to clarify your character, because your character is what you truly are while your reputation is merely what others think you are. Seek your true character daily.

Seek your unique qualities. Don’t be trapped by the dogma of other people’s thinking. Work to discover and develop your own unique gifts and qualities and let them lead you to the kind of contribution that only you can make.

Seek the truth. Any form of dishonesty—distorting facts, false impressions, conscious misleading—harms your leadership. Work to discover the truth in every situation and speak always with honesty and candor.

Seek your own core values. Change is inevitable in business, in events, in the culture, in the people around you. Through it all, hold firm to the unchanging strength of your core values. When you do, you can challenge yourself in tough times, be courageous in fearful times and make a difference when it matters.

Seek to trust and to be trusted. Great leaders know there’s nothing more important than creating trust. Trust should be central to everything you do and every relationship you enter into. Seek trust in every action and every word.

Seek a compelling vision. As a leader, you are responsible for creating a culture in which people are inspired to work together toward something bigger than themselves. Seek your compelling vision so you can share it with those who will be with you on the journey.

Seek to share your knowledge. All the knowledge in the world is of little use if you don’t seek to use share it and use it in ways that help others. Cultivate the skills that will help you better serve, teach, mentor and lead.

Seek forgiveness. For many leaders the phrase “I’m sorry” doesn’t come easily, but it is the leader who can apologize and seek forgiveness who has true power. Seek to let go of your own anger, move past what hurts and look to make things right.

Seek something bigger than yourself. Living is about losing yourself to find yourself. The greatest rewards come when you seek a way to give of yourself. It’s about bettering the lives of others, being part of something bigger than yourself and making a positive difference.

What you do as a leader is one thing, what you seek as a leader is another.

When you are a seeker you are constantly looking for new ways of doing old things, trying to find how you can make things better not only for you but for everyone around you.

If you can have just one quality as a leader, be a constant seeker.

Lead from within: As a leader, your main concern is not to avoid failure or to live in success but to always seek more meaning, growth and development.

 

Additional Reading:

7 Basic Things Every Great Leader Should Know

How to Become the Leader That People Want to Follow


10 Ways To Simplify Your Leadership

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