“A great leader’s courage to fulfill his/her vision comes from passion, not position.” – John Maxwell I grew up being taught the value of leadership. So today I want to share with you my perspective on what it means to be a leader, and how you can help yourself develop your skills to positively influence others around you. Leadership can be defined as the act of guiding or directing a group of people. But it is so much more than that. Forbes defines leadership as a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal. – This definition only begins to explain all the different components of what it means to be a leader of a team. John Maxwell, leadership expert, has been a key mentor on helping me develop my leadership abilities in all aspects of my life. I have read a variety of his books and have come to better understand the importance of team work, communication and direction and delegation. Although Maxwell’s books and advice have a professional business perspective, his advice can be applied to any context. As a professional at any stage of your career you may be afraid to take the next step to try on the leadership hat. Starting out can be tough and scary because we cannot know what the future holds and there's so much uncertainty whether we'll be successful or not. Even so, that's not a reason to hold back.
Towards the end of my high school years and the start of my university career I became really interested in developing my leadership skills. I started spending a lot of time seeking out the guidance of different leaders (school professors, summer job managers, guidance counsellors, professionals in the psychotherapy field) and reading leadership books. Maybe you've been in certain situations where you have asserted yourself, spoke on behalf of the needs of others, or have felt the desire to lead a team towards a particular goal or vision.
How do you know if you have the potential to be a leader? When you work in groups, do you often co-ordinate the different parts of a project that each member works on? Have you sat on a committee or board? Have you been the captain of a sports team? Do you like organizing events? If you said yes to any of these questions, you already have the inner workings of a leader. If you are interested in doing any of these things, you are also on the track to becoming a leader. Everyone has some leadership qualities that they are born with, but to become a successful and influential leader it takes a lot of patience and practice. A great starting point to develop your skills are these two books by John Maxwell: • The 21 irrefutable laws of leadership • The 5 levels of leaderships Next week I’ll outline what it means to be a leader and discuss some of the key aspects that help to build a strong leader. If you are interested in learning more about leadership in the meantime, check out www.johnmaxwell.com.
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash.
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