Not many people aspire to be a leader when they are young. Maybe they want to be a doctor, sports person, chef or an artist. According to Douglas MacArthur, ‘most leaders become just that by the equality of their actions and the integrity of their intent’. Leaders care about impact, support and encouragement, not title, money or power. To care about those who work for you or with you is the best way to make a difference in someone’s life showing empathy to understand where they are coming from.
No matter what the project is, ensuring those involved within it are catered for is imperative for it to be a success. Whether it is making a small task easier to carry out by acknowledging it is a pain point, or providing a new system to overhaul the business and transform it completely, leaders are there to set the vision, map out the path and inspire those involved to join them to achieve success.
Leaders go above and beyond expectations by identifying their own intrinsic motivation to identify why they do what they do so that they can share their passion with those around them.
Leaders don’t depend on others to act, execution is everything and it is what leaders do. If a leader sees a problem, they fix it rather than just throwing money at it.
Leaders rethink risk because inaction can be riskier than action. They take the opportunity to make a difference in someone else’s life.
Leaders don’t worry about being liked by others, and focus on being respected by them instead. Leaders will not be able to please everyone all of the time, but if those people respect their leader, they will be more likely to accept what decisions are made and engage in the process.
Leaders know what they want to be remembered by. Whether that is empathy to personal situations, allowing flexible working to look after children or family members, sending random small gifts of appreciation.
Random acts of kindness will make a difference in someone’s life. Kindness could be a new way of working in a project, or simply a network to put your questions to. No matter what the project, leaders find a way to involve everyone.
