Leadership should be dynamic, exciting, and inspiring! | Ovie Kedo
Here’s the latest in our PRECIOUS Success leadership series. We’re asking a range of entrepreneurs, business owners, experts, and innovators from a range of industries: What does leadership mean to you?
There is a well-known Chinese proverb that says that the wise adapt themselves to circumstances, as water moulds itself to the pitcher. Perhaps at no other time in recent history has adaptability been more importantthan it is now.
Adaptability – the ability to change (or be changed) to fit new circumstances – is a crucial skill for leaders, and an important competency in emotional intelligence.
Be Inspiring!
If you want to be a leader who people follow with absolute conviction, you have to be a likable leader. Tyrants with brilliant vision can command a reluctant following for a time, but it never lasts. They burn people out before they ever get to see what anyone is truly capable of.
The word “leadership” can bring to mind a variety of images:
- A political leader, pursuing a passionate, personal cause.
- An explorer, cutting a path through the jungle for the rest of his group to follow.
- An executive, developing a company’s strategy to beat the competitors.
All of the examples require practised skills and use similar competencies to achieve the desired results.
What should leaders do?
Leaders help themselves and others to do the right things. They set direction, build an inspiring vision, and create something new. Leadership is about mapping out where you need to go to “succeed” as a team or an organization.
Comfort Zones:
Leaders set the direction, they must also use management skills to guide their people to the right destination, in a smooth and efficient way. It is therefore crucial to make a concerted effort to understand people of different cultures, cultural adaptability has become imperative.
This willingness to get out of our comfort zone, and learn continuously as a way of adapting to changed surroundings, marks a key difference between successful and unsuccessful leaders.
Leading others effectively:
When most people are asked to describe the best and worst leaders they have ever worked for, most people inevitably ignore innate characteristics (intelligence, extroversion, attractiveness, etc ) and instead focus on qualities that are completely under the leader’s control, such as approachability, humility, and positivity.
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership encompasses the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills, and opportunities you offer as a business owner, a manager or a parent. Leadership the great challenge of life.
What’s important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective.
A leader will ensure that team members have the necessary skills and abilities to do their job and achieve the vision. They do this by giving and receiving feedback regularly, and by training and coaching people to improve both individual and team performance.
Strong leadership also includes looking for leadership potential in others. By developing leadership skills within your team, you create an environment where you can continue success in the long-term.
That is a true measure of great leadership.
My Key Points on delivering dynamic, exciting and inspiring leadership:
- Listen first, propose later!
- It’s important to create an environment that allows for creativity.
- Learn to trust yourself and your instincts, use your gut feeling.
- Understand your own personal style and recognise the importance of authenticity.
- Do what you love and be true to what you want out of your situation
