Legendary Leadership - The 4 Components to Achieve the Highest Level of Leadership
Cody Dakota Wooten, C.B.C.
"Legendary Leadership" Coach, Digital Writer (600+ Articles), Speaker | Faith, Family, Freedom, Future | Multi-Award-Winning Category Creator of "Legendary Leadership" | #1 Creator on Typeshare & Vocal Journal Community
In 2016, I began to really focus on the idea of "Leadership", wanting to create the next generation of leaders that would improve the world.
As I started to dive into "Leadership Development", I found that it didn't work. It only has a 20% success rate in a $250 Billion industry. Among what was deemed a "success", there were only "varied levels" of success.
I found that to be unacceptable.
So, I began to develop a new category called Legendary Leadership which I began talking about in 2018, which there was no evidence online of existing prior.
I wanted to develop something that ACTUALLY worked. I wanted to discover how we could consistently create leaders that could improve the world. I began researching, talking, and writing about how we could truly do this.
Apparently, the idea of Legendary Leadership is catching on because I am starting to see businesses and books written on the subject (That were not by me!)
However, I am seeing something else that is extremely troubling.
More people are talking about Legendary Leadership, but they aren't getting the full picture. I'm unsure if they simply just enjoy the alliteration, or if they really haven't done enough research on the root of the idea. However, I want to make a few things very clear so people who write about Legendary Leadership in the future do not make the same mistakes.
There are 4 Primary Components to Legendary Leadership, and if someone you are talking to is unable to really touch on these 4 points, then they don't really know Legendary Leadership.
The Evolution of Leadership
One of the things that I found really interesting was that "Leadership Development" doesn't mean ONE thing.
There are actually HUNDREDS of different types of "Leadership Development"! You could take 10 "Leadership Development" courses and they ALL discuss different types of leadership. Oftentimes, those different types of "Leadership" actually don't mesh, which is part of why there is often so little success.
So in designing "Legendary Leadership", I really wanted to create something solid, so I focused on what was backed by science.
This led me to a few different conclusions:
The crazy thing when I discovered this was that no one really seemed to fully understand this.
There were many that were looking at Biology to "improve" leadership abilities, but no one understood that it was the "core" of what made leaders successful!
When I discovered this I began to seek out the greatest minds in different Psychophysiological spheres and got certified (and continue to) with the best. From Flow Psychology, Nutrition, Eudaimonology, Macromineralogy, Neurocardiology, Emotional Intelligence, Identology, and Physiology. These were on TOP of the "traditional" Leadership certifications and courses I was taking.
My work on this has become what I call "Leadership Evolution".
It focuses on how we are designed by nature to become leaders, and what psychophysiological factors impact our success (or failure) as leaders.
Without this base, you cannot be successful as a leader. Even if you take ALL of the BEST "Leadership Development" courses, lacking this will prevent your success. I have found that leaders don't generally train in these aspects, and either come into it by chance or it becomes the biggest limiting factor that they can't figure out how to get around.
Living Into Leadership
Once you have the Leadership Evolution down, I discovered that there was another type of leadership that became really important.
It revolves around the question, "Why do people follow other people?" It's a simple question, but one which is really hard for most people to answer. You generally get an answer like, "I don't know, there's just... something about them!"
A part of this answer has to do with the unseen forces of Leadership Evolution.
However, there is another aspect that we don't really talk about.
We live in a world of "Celebrities" and "Influencers". Often, the people that most people "look up to" have some sort of fame or fortune. However, from a psychological standpoint, this becomes detrimental to us.
When we look at the science, we don't REALLY want to follow "Celebrities" and "Influencers" - it's actually very painful to follow them!
There is something different about Leaders that we WANT to follow and who benefit us from a psychological standpoint.
It ties into HOW they live their lives. What is most appealing to human beings in terms of who to follow is twofold. We want to see someone who actually lives according to who they say they are, and we want to become people ourselves who live like that.
This leads me to what I have been calling, "Exemplar Leadership".
We want to be led by people who "walk the walk", not just "talk the talk" or "look the look".
If they say that they believe in "creating a better world" do they actually take ACTION in making that happen? Do they fund or volunteer or work on projects that accomplish this goal? If they don't actually do that, and only pay "lip service" to it, then they are not exemplars.
In business today we see this galore.
Many businesses claim they support different groups or projects, but when you look at the balance sheets you'll find that they actually profit from "pretending" to support it.
It sickens me to think about it, but it's very common. When you look at the vast majority of businesses and "leaders", they talk a good talk, and outside appearances look good. However, at their core, it is rotten and they don't truly care about these problems.
The types of Leaders that become "Legendary Leaders" are first and foremost Exemplars of what they believe.
They take action and PROVE what they believe, and often don't even talk about their incredible efforts, and this leads people to want to follow them hoping that they too will have a life like that.
Teams Are the Heart of Legendary Leaders
Now, we can't become Legendary if we don't have an amazing team or group of people around us.
However, there are different types of teams and groups! Many of them, even if they are good, don't qualify their leaders for Legendary status! They may do great work, but there is a different level that must be reached for Leaders to attain that status.
This is what I have called, "Peak Unified Group Leadership".
领英推荐
A large part of this lies in "Peak" and "Unified".
Some of the best companies today have a lot of people that work in the same area. They may even work together well. However, there is a huge difference between peak performers working in the same office, and peak performers actually being unified together.
See, the highest level of group success comes from "Group Flow States."
What happens is that, together, groups of people pull other members into flow states with them.
However, this isn't what happens in most organizations. Often we have people that are able to reach some level of Flow State (work is the most common place to attain flow), but it is a completely solitary effort. They don't pull others into flow states, and they themselves aren't pulled into flow states by anyone else on the team.
These solo efforts may be beneficial to companies in the short term.
However, in the long term, it actually becomes detrimental!
Most businesses reward their "Solo Peak Performers". These individuals however believe their success lies in themselves solely (because it does) and it is a talent they can take anywhere with them (and often they will to another company that will pay them higher). With this, those who aren't rewarded end up doing a minimal viable effort to keep their jobs, and some actually end up resenting their jobs (sometimes actively working against the company).
This is a disunified effort - it can work, but it will never be Legendary.
However, some leaders actually attain something different.
Not only do peak performers WANT to work for these leaders, but they also attribute their successes to the leader (which the leader will humbly and truthfully deny)! With this, entire teams get into peak states together, as one unified group, even across different departments. People on these teams don't want to leave these types of groups, even if offered significantly higher wages elsewhere (I've seen denials on 40% increases to salaries!)
These types of teams are the gateway to leaders that have the "potential" to become Legendary.
The Final Component that No One Can Escape
This final component is something that all people must answer to in their lives - Time.
See, "Legendary" isn't created in short periods of time. You can't do it over one large group. It doesn't happen over a few years.
To truly be a Legendary Leader, it takes time.
However, something as important as time is "consistency" in that time.
Legendary Leaders are able to take multiple groups of individuals to Peak Unified Group levels. Their work expands over entire careers where they are able to reproduce these results. Often, these types of leaders are able to do it in multiple businesses, industries, and different types of groups.
This is also where most people lose the ability to truly become "Legendary".
They may have had one or even two great successes that had achieved these levels, but that's it.
After their one or two great successes, they go from one high-level position to another. In none of their next roles do they attain any similar type of success. They continue to move forward, chasing something they once had, but never are able to find again.
At the end of the day, they are forgotten.
They go from an amazing success to a mediocre shadow of what they once were.
It all happens because they don't actually understand what TRULY made them successful before. They try tactics and "Leadership Development" courses that worked in the past but never seem to work again. Nothing they do leads to what they once had.
It's because it wasn't the tactics or the courses that made them successful.
However, for Legendary Leaders, this doesn't happen.
Legendary Leaders keep the same basics as above alive and well. They adapt and change what is necessary for the groups that they lead now. At the end of the day, often without going out of their way, they are able to continuously get Legendary results.
When this happens enough, for long enough, others recognize you as a Legendary Leader.
Final Takeaways
As Legendary Leadership continues to gain traction, pay attention if people are able to actually talk on these subjects.
The only way to discover these things will be to speak with them directly (or read/listen/watch a LOT of their work), and if you do that long enough you will be able to find out.
If they aren't able to talk more deeply about all of the points above, they don't truly know or understand Legendary Leadership.
If you find someone who claims otherwise, they are trying to sell you something that won't get you to where want to be.
I have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours to understand these topics at the highest levels I am able.
I will continue to do so as science continually improves and methods of understanding our extremely complex psychophysiology become better.
Legendary is not achieved in a short period of time, and the understanding of "Legendary Leadership" is no exception to that rule.
Read More FREE ? https://typeshare.co/theleadershipguide