3 Leadership Myths

Forget everything you have learned about leadership and think about this...??

If you have an impact on anyone around you, then you are a leader.? If you have any sort of impact on your classmates, your co-workers, or your family, then you are a leader.

Leadership is influence.??

Leadership is influence, nothing more nothing less.” - John Maxwell

Here are 3 Leadership Myths:

Myth #1: Job title equals leadership.

FALSE

Being a leader is more than having the manager title.? We can all think of examples in our past of a manager who thought they were in control, but everyone was undermining them behind their back.? They didn’t respect this manager and would only do the minimum required.

Be a leader who leads by example, treats everyone well, and adds value. Then people will WANT to follow you.

Myth #2: Leaders are born, Leadership cannot be learned

While it is true that some people are born with a natural talent to lead others, it is still a skill that can be learned and developed.? Leadership is influence, and the influence is made up of many factors, including the ability to:

• Cast a vision
• Add value to others
• Build trust
• Build personal relationships
• Communicate effectively
• Lead by example

All of the above are learnable skills.

Leadership skills that are more difficult to describe and harder to learn include:

• Intuition - that feeling when you know it's time to change course

• Timing - Sensing when to start or stop something

The latter skills are more fuzzy and complicated. They are difficult to learn but we can see it in others when it happens.??

At the end of the day, I am quite confident that leadership skills can be learned and that we should all seek to improve in these areas.

Myth #3: A leader is a winner and wins at all costs.

FALSE

A leader shows the path to win, but has values and ethics.? They know when to say no to something that is just not right and are willing to lose on that principle.? Bad leaders step over others to get ahead. A good leader puts others first, even if it costs something.??

Ironically, this type of selfless leadership develops loyal followers and then the team becomes highly motivated.? They will then follow that manager to the ends of the earth if needed.

My challenge to you this week is to do a self assessment of your leadership skills.? What areas do you need improvement?? Develop a plan to improve 1% in that area of leadership.? Small deliberate improvements will add up massively over time.

I wish you much motivation and success this week!

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