The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in

by Robin Sharma

And this model is all about creating an environment and culture where everyone needs to show leadership. Everyone needs to drive innovation. Everyone needs to inspire their teammates. Everyone needs to embrace change. Everyone needs to take responsibility for results. Everyone needs to be positive. Everyone needs to become devoted to expressing their absolute best. And once they do, the organization not only will adapt beautifully to the changing conditions, it will actually lead within its field.”

The highest of all human abilities is the ability each one of us has to choose how we respond to the environment we find ourselves within.

We all have a natural power to lead that has nothing to do with a big title, or how old we are, or where we live.

You reach your last day with the brilliant song that your life was meant to sing still silent within you. 2. You reach your last day without ever having experienced the natural power that inhabits you to do great work and achieve great things. 3. You reach your last day realizing that you never inspired anyone else by the example that you set. 4. You reach your last day full of pain at the realization that you never took any bold risks and so you never received any bright rewards. 5. You reach your last day understanding that you missed the opportunity to catch a glimpse of mastery because you bought into the lie that you had to be resigned to mediocrity. 6. You reach your last day and feel heartbroken that you never learned the skill of transforming adversity into victory and lead into gold. 7. You reach your last day regretting that you forgot that work is about being radically helpful to others rather than being helpful only to yourself. 8. You reach your last day with the awareness that you ended up living the life that society trained you to want versus leading the life you truly wanted to have. 9. You reach your last day and awaken to the fact that you never realized your absolute best nor touched the special genius that you were built to become. 10. You reach your last day and discover you could have been a leader and left this world so much better than you found it. But you refused to accept that mission because you were just too scared. And so you failed. And wast...

more blaming the war for not being able to get back into the game. No more blaming my manager for not being able to do great work. No more blaming my past for my inability to win in the present. In that moment—tired and dirty, standing in some grave that my eccentric mentor dug well before the dawn of this breathtakingly beautiful day with its promise of a new beginning—I stopped making excuses.

“Titles do bring power, Blake. But the problem with the type of power they bring is that if the title gets taken away, the power gets lost.” “Makes sense,”

comes with having a title can be fleeting at best—especially in these

“The 4 Natural Powers”: Natural Power # 1. Every one of us alive in this moment has the power to go to work each day and express the Absolute Best within us. And you need no title to do that. Natural Power # 2. Every one of us alive today has the power to inspire, influence, and elevate each person we meet by the gift of a great example. And you need no title to do that. Natural Power # 3. Every one of us alive with life can passionately drive positive change in the face of negative conditions. And you need no title to do that. Natural Power # 4. Every one of us alive to the truth about leadership can treat all stakeholders with respect, appreciation, and kindness—and in so doing raise the organization’s culture to best of breed. And you need no title to do that.

The I in IMAGE will remind you about the importance of Innovation.

in IMAGE stand for?” I asked. “Mastery,” Anna offered. “Committing

FMOB is someone who is devoted to being the First, the Most, the Only, and the Best.

A in IMAGE.” “Which stands for?” “Authenticity.

The G simply stands for the need to have Guts in business.

E in IMAGE stand for, Anna?” I asked as I realized that my meeting with the first of the four teachers was nearing the end and though I’d only just met her this morning, I’d miss Anna—this proud and beautiful woman with a noble spirit and a flower placed delicately in her long black hair. “Ethics,”

was also integrating a knowing of what real leadership was truly all about. It wasn’t some soft skill that you use once in a while to meet your performance goals and win some motivational contest. Leadership was so much more than that. It was a way of expressing our absolute best as human beings. And using the inner leader that inhabits each one of us not only to uplift our own lives, but also to elevate the lives of all those around us—from our teammates to the customers we are privileged to serve.

Money, influence, and position are nothing compared with brains, principles, energy, and perserverance. —ORISON SWETT MARDEN

“Just keep in mind that difficult days never last, but strong people always do.

part of the process of changing and growing is going from where you currently are to breaking down all you’ve known so you can rebuild in a way that’s even better.

The S in SPARK stands for Speak with Candor.