What It Means to Be A Powerful Leader... And a Man

What It Means to Be A Leader...As A Man

For Leadership to evolve we must face the limitations of our own conditioning.

Fathers day is a day set aside to honor our fathers. Yet so many boys and girls grow up without a father. When I say "without" I am not simply speaking of fathers who turned their backs to walked away. I am also speaking of fathers who bought the role, the conditioning they were given, and as such became the kind of father who was little more than a warm body in the home. As such we must ask ourselves; can we truly say we are a 'father" when two-thirds of our being is not present (the emotional and mental)?

Age does not automatically mean we grew up.

To those fathers (and I was one) I want to say: When you walked away, or just didn't show up, you left behind a child who could not receive all of the vital elements needed to feel whole. Manhood is an alchemy of those elements and circumstances. Without each element a man may only grow older chronologically. He may grow a beard, and his hair may even grey with age, but he will never truly transform into a mature man needed in order to become an authentic leader.

Each of us quietly struggles to truly grow up until we are healed of the savage or subtle wounds inflicted on us by the absent father, even by a father who was just not fully emotionally present.

And so I challenge you as a man, right here, right now to know this; even though you may secretly know that you are indeed missing certain elements, there are elements you have that other men do not. Further to that challenge you can step up in softness and share the elements that you have with other men. Whether those in front of you are boys or old men, allow them to share their elements with you, for they may indeed contain the elements that you are missing.

As a leadership speaker with a background in the family of origin psychology, it's glaringly obvious to me that we initially learn leadership through the leadership that was modeled for us. So where was leadership initially modeled for us? The answer is illusively obvious: In our families! That leadership (or lack thereof), becomes our model of what was imprinted on us about how leadership should or should not be.

Emotional Intelligence

It's this simple: Children learn leadership from their parents. That leadership is a result of the fact that every day those children are watching and absorbing their primary caregiver's behavior. We might like to believe that children learn from what we tell them, the truth is that they learn far more by observation. This is particularly true with regard to how we emotionally respond to any given situation. Kids are highly attuned to your emotions, the way you demonstrate and respond to your own and other people's strong emotions tell kids exactly how to be with these things. This develops or stagnates not only the development of their emotions but also their emotional intelligence with others. 

The foundation of becoming a highly effective and emotional Intelligent leader is rooted is our childhood. Having a high level of emotional intelligence is without doubt one of the determiners of how successful we will be in leadership positions.

Be a Feminist...Believe in Men!

Let me say even though "I am a feminist". Meaning that I, like the Dali Lama believe the world will be transformed by the next generation of women.

However, I want you to know this: I Still Believe In Men!

I believe that men are in truth deeply caring, loving and compassionate. I believe that men are every bit as nurturing and intuitive as women.

This is NOT gay or straight; this is our very nature!

Let me clarify: I do NOT believe in the conditioning of men! Men have been trained for generations to believe that we are emotionally incapable, and sadly men in general have gone along with this, and I believe that is total nonsense!

However, it should be noted that all this is what I believe, it is my truth, not 'the truth". I would love to know if this is a truth that resonates with you, or if you have a different truth...tell me. 

Leadership is Fathering

Nonetheless, I hold it as true because; I believe in men. And when I die one of the things I pray people will say about me is that I was more than a leader, a speaker, an author or any other official title. I hope that they will say "I was a father to men"

If you want to be a better leader take a look at the original model of leadership you received, and decide that great leadership like great parenting is modeled.

Real leadership, most of all authentic leadership requires that we break through the conditioning we have taken on as true, and find our own truth.

Happy Father's Day to the men and women who stepped up when another man walked away.

I trust that you found this article valuable, if so, if you believe this is an important message feel free to send this to your friends! I eagerly anticipate your feedback and comments.

P.S. Go here https://fiercelyloyalbook.com and get your FREE: How to instantly create rapport and bond any person/team info graphic.

I trust that you found this article valuable, if so, feel free to send this to your friends. I eagerly anticipate your feedback and comments.

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I created the Authentic Leadership Matrix after a lot of experience and research. One of the questions I'm asked often is what authentic leadership is and how do we define it. As a result, I created the matrix. It splits what leadership is into five separate categories. So, that you can take a clear look at how you perform in each of the five main areas that are required for you to become a world class authentic leader. The process takes you through each category simply with yes or no questions.https://matrix.fullmontyleadership.com/

With gratitude, D?v Baron

I also write for Entrepreneur.com:

• Is There Life After Success(ion)?
• Why 47 Percent of Your Best People Are Ready to Leave -- and What You Can Do About It
• The 11 Questions Emotionally Intelligent Leaders Ask Themselves
• Why Being a Self-Aware Leader Is Not Enough
• Unlocking 'the 4 Cs' to Create a Fiercely Loyal Corporate Culture 

“In 2015, Dov Baron was cited by Inc Magazine as one of the Top 100 Leadership Speaker to book for your next conference! He speaks internationally and is The Leading Authority on Next-Gen Authentic Leadership and creating a Culture of Fiercely Loyal Leaders. FullMontyLeadership.com

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P.S. To get your hands on Dov Baron’s new book “Fiercely Loyal” How High Performing Companies Develop and Retain Top Talent, go take a look here https://fiercelyloyalbook.com and get your FREE: How to instantly bond any team infographic”

To contact: Dov Baron International, and Authentic Paragon Alliance INC. Contact Authentic Paragon Alliance at +1 778 397 7717 https://FullMontyLeadership.com