What makes a leader a leader?

All our lives we have been surrounded by bosses, either our parents and grandparents, or teachers, or managers at work. Rarely have we been in the presence of leaders. The following short passages and explanations will help you to spot the leaders in the past and present of your life, and hopefully illuminate their qualities and the way in which they view the world. 

 

6 Truths of Effective Leadership

1.Vision: State clearly what your vision is, and where you want to go

2.Find the right people, and get rid of the bad ones quickly

3.Delegate, delegate, and delegate some more

4.Be consistent on the key points, but take it easy on the details

5.Reward success!

6.Don’t give failure a chance, do it fast, and learn from it

 

The Difference between Power and Leadership

Power: The ability to take what you want by means of force

example; Guns and weapons, physical strength, wealth, social class, political clout

Leadership: To have the power to persuade people to do what you want, and an energy that draws people to you and makes them want to follow you.

example; Gandhi, Sir. Richard Branson (C.E.O. Virgin), Vladimir Putin (President of Russia), Xi Jinping (current Chinese communist party leader), Napoleon de Bonaparte (French Emperor), Mao Zedong (Founder of P.R.C.), Niccolò Machiavelli (Italian Renaissance Intellectual)

 

"To be a leader is to have power, but to have power does not mean you are a leader."

 

Powerful yet Soft Power

Charisma: The natural ability of a person to attract people, and to have them do what they want; so powerful that it is almost magical, it can be used for good or evil. All great leaders in history have this quality.

 

Control the Message

You can call it branding or whatever you like, the main point is that you need to create a story that describes what you want people to know you for. The message needs to be powerful and memorable, but still remain believable.

 

Leaders are Born in Times of Need

All great leaders were born into times of great change or chaos. There was a need for them and they found themselves, and their ideas accepted in the times they lived in. Leaders that are not needed are sometimes driven insane, they might even be one of those poor lunatics you saw once raving mad in a street alley, giving speeches to the def ears of passerbys or invisible audiences.

 

Older Leaders come from young beginnings

All leaders are born like you and I, and they have childhoods as well, many times childhoods that are imperfect and full of problems but they are able to overcome these difficulties and become great. What makes them overcome these obstacles that would make most people fail?

• Problem solving skills
• Social competence
• Raison d’etre
• An ability to stay removed from family discord
• Self reliance
• High self-esteem
• Ability to hold and form personal relationships
• Positive outlook
• Focused nurturing home life
• A well structured household
• High but achievable expectations from parents

 

Leaders are Survivors

Why do leaders survive and flourish where most people fall and break?

• Familiar with the environment
• Have a long term goal to encourage yourself
• Don’t trust God/gods to help
• Accept defeat but also fight not to lose/mix realism with optimism
• A childhood with a sense of stability/security
• Idea that the universe is a supportive place that rewards action, and that obstacles are meant to be overcome

 

True Leaders Accept Criticism

In life we all make mistakes, since we are young, until the day we die. Making mistakes is not too serious as long as we do not repeat them, however not repeating them is the key. How do we keep from repeating mistakes? One way is by self analysis through situational learning, but this can be a very slow process and may cause us to repeat mistakes. The most effective way but also most difficult for people to perform, is to accept criticism.

Criticism: When someone points out mistakes

Self criticism: When you point out your own mistakes

Acceptance of criticism: When you hear, understand, and accept the mistakes you made pointed out by others than yourself.

Unfortunately most people in the world allow something called pride or arrogance to block this ability, and as a result people are never able to advance in their own personal growth as fast as they should. Many people we consider our leaders cannot accept criticism and therefore are never truly great leaders.

 

AVOIDANCE

Avoidance: Not accepting negative truths of a situation and allowing the situation to remain the same.

By avoiding negative truths, we create an endless cycle where negative events and people continue to repeat themselves. True leaders accept negative truths and face them, and ultimately overcome them.

 

Knowing allies and enemies, and taking Decisive action

Know who are your allies so as to make good long lasting relationships with them, know who your enemies are so that you can keep a safe distance to have enough time to plan a strategy to defeat them, be ready to make decisions and take action quickly when the situation demands it but also know when the right time to take action is so as to have victory.

 

Diplomacy

Diplomacy: Knowing how to win peoples good will and friendship through acts of charity, gifts, shows of respect, and selflessness.

“Diplomacy is the oil that keeps the engine of human relationships working smoothly”

Marcus Arvizu

 

Have a clear Vision

Vision: a powerful idea of who you are, what your purpose is, and where you want to go.

Having a clear vision is something that all great leaders have in common. Their visions are so powerful that they are able to convince enemies to join in their cause, followers to believe as strongly as in a religion, and the full loyalty of the group.

 

How to make a Nation

Promise: an agreement that is made to someone that cannot be broken

Promises are made, and your followers believe in you. Leaders are only leaders if the followers trust in them. When leaders break their promises, the group loses trust and doubts the vision. The group becomes toxic and starts to break down. To keep promises is one of the most important things a leader needs to do.

 

Loyalty: a sense of owing allegiance to a person or group because of shared sacrifices, experiences, opportunities, ideals, traditions and beliefs.

As a leader gaining loyalty of followers is very difficult and requires a emotional intelligence together with a bit of luck and favorable events. However losing loyalty of followers can be very easy if the loyalty was gained too easily. Easy come, easy go. A hard won loyalty is much more desirable despite the difficulty in attaining it.

 

Hardship: difficult situations such as starvation, injury both physical and mental, exhaustion, or great material loss.

A leader that goes through hardships and shares in the same experience as his followers is respected, and trusted. No one will follow for very long if asked to do something the leader is not willing to do. Shared hardship gives the followers a sense of fairness, and everyone likes fair people.

 

Morale: state of mind needed to succeed that requires spiritual, mental, and material strength.

Spiritual morale: belief in a great and noble cause that must be pursued at once with aggression, and that direct action by the individual affects the outcome.

Intellectual morale: feeling that the objective is achievable, the group is efficient and the leader is trust-able.

Material morale: feeling of being provided the tools/weapons and correct conditions to overcome the obstacle.

Great leaders create strong morale in their followers, and with it overcome tremendous obstacles. However losing the groups morale is dangerous and leads almost inevitably to defeat.

 

Know your Limitations

Limitation: the out most border of a person’s ability.

As leaders we are looked to our followers for answers, for a clear vision and path because they have not found theirs yet and need you to give purpose to their lives. This does not however mean that leaders know everything or are the intellectually smartest person in the group. Leaders need to know their limits and find solutions to those things they cannot solve on their own. The answer to that is being humble enough to recognize their deficits and find someone to help.

 

Establishing a Foundation

Reward Loyalty: People in free societies have the ability to change loyalties easily depending on their self interests. Gaining loyalty can be very difficult but losing it can be so easy. The key to keeping followers loyal is to reward them for their loyalty when they demonstrate hard work in the name of the common vision. The rewards should be given regardless of the followers title, but based on their accomplishment and level of loyalty.

 

Control from Top to Down

As a leader you must pay attention to the following:

• Attention to detail: a vision without details is only a dream, but the details make it real and workable.
• All decisions made reflect core values: actions speak louder than words.
• Surround yourself with the right people: the right people share your vision and core beliefs, they do not follow you only for money but for a much higher purpose.

When all these points are fulfilled, the leader does not even need to be present for the group to work effectively since they all know their purpose and share in the common vision.

 

Have Clear and Firm rules

Clear and Firm rules: give the group a sense of order that keeps everything working efficiently, keep peace by controlling dangerous or offensive behavior, maintain a sense of fairness when dispensing punishment to everyone regardless of title or wealth and the punishment matches the severity of the crime.

 

Know when to follow the Rules, but most Importantly know when they can be Bent

“Youth teaches us what rules to follow, but age teaches us what rules can be bent or broken.”

Marcus Arvizu

The cleverest leaders and heroes in history knew the rules, and knowing the rules allows you to be on a level ground with your competition, but to gain the advantage you need to know which rules can be bent or broken.

 

First steps to building your Empire

Be realistic in your strategy. Very often teams enter into a suicidal group think that is extremely dangerous and leads to total failure. The symptoms include; illusions of invulnerability, collective efforts to ignore information that might break cherished assumptions, an unquestioned belief in the groups inherent morality, generalizing the enemy, and an illusion of unanimity

 

In Peace train for War

There is nothing more valuable than training. Leadership, strategy, and discipline alone are not enough to assure success when a group must confront real life challenges. Practice makes a group ready and confident for facing any obstacles in the journey.

Practice makes perfect; talking about doing something and doing it are two very different things!

 

Do things well or don’t  do them at all!

A half won battle is a battle lost. In life true victory goes to those who complete tasks fully and with all their heart. When you do something half done, the remaining half that is not completed can likely give you problems later on, either as en undefeated enemy, or an error that cancels your victory.

 

Make your Interests there Interests

 

 

A leader that makes his interests the interests of the group is extremely successful in having the laws and rules followed since respecting the leaders interests results in direct fulfillment of the followers interests. If the leader makes profits, he takes a portion of those profits to distribute evenly with his followers making sure that his interests are always the same as those of his followers. Also the same applies for punishments, if the leader is not given his due profits, then the individuals in the group that did not follow the rules are punished accordingly.

 

Important Decisions that Affect all Require Debate

A leaders job is to give people a vision to believe in and a direction for their lives; however more often than is beneficial, leaders forget that important decisions that affect all in the group also require a group debate that takes into consideration the groups interests, because even though the leaders interests are the groups interests, they do not reflect each other perfectly and need detailed debate to take into consideration the important points of all involved. Forgetting to allow the group to voice their concerns to the leader creates a sense of injustice and exclusion.

 

Employ the Best

The best leaders choose the best people to help them. Sometimes these people are better than the leader in many ways, but they lack the vision, ambition or social skills to lead. In this world however there are many leaders who do not choose the best because they view someone talented as a threat.

As a leader it is necessary to put aside these emotions and choose the best person for the job.

 

Surprise, Fear, Forgiveness

Using surprise to catch opponents unprepared gives leaders the advantage of choosing the most effective strategy when competing or conducting any kind of business moves. Building an image of ruthlessness and not leaving any room for the competition to gain advantage can make it easier when entering future negotiations and creates fear in the competition. Giving the competition forgiveness for surrendering easily instead of resisting opens the way for easy repeated victories.

 

Difference between Managers and Leaders

Leaders have to be good a managing but a good manager is not necessarily a leader. To be a leader you need to think and plan for future events and constantly think of solutions to problems before they occur. You must have a long term vision and see beyond the daily tasks and profits. Managers on the other hand help to ensure that the decisions made by leaders are carried out, and daily tasks are met, a managers concerns start and end with what the leader orders them to do. A manager takes care of history and a leader takes care of the future.

 

Forms of Power

Direct power: power derived from direct control of force, like weapons, physical strength, political strength.

Power by association: power derived from having a relationship with those in direct power.

Perceived power: power people give to a person or thing because of it resemblance to an established source of power or authority, like people who wear government uniforms, or official looking vehicles or buildings.

In leadership, these different forms are used to control and organize the group. It is important to know these forms of power and use them according to the situation at hand.

 

These are some of the characteristics of leaders, however leaders come in all shapes and sizes and cannot be categorized completely. This article is meant as a brief introduction into the mind of a leader. If you are interested in further leaderships readings, I recommend to read history as great leaders always withstand the test of time and can be found in most history books across the world.

 

Special thanks to John Man as he is the inspiration for many of the original ideas and information which I derived from one of his latest works, "The leadership secrets of Genghis Khan".