Leadership Skills Part 1

People often follow bosses because they have incentive of bonuses and promotions. It does not mean every boss in an organization is a leader. On the other hand, if people follow a leader in a community organization (for instance Church), leader is really an effective leader because there is no such incentive as bonus or promotion.

All leaders have their own style but some of the leadership laws are universal. These qualities cannot be developed by reading a book, however, it is important to read to know those qualities and implement in your career. The more you practice, the better leader you become.

Some laws of leadership mentioned in 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership are as follows:

1. The Law of Lid

• The lower an individual’s ability to lead, the lower the lid on his/her potential.  The higher the leadership, the greater the effectiveness.
• Church or business will not rise beyond the level your leadership allows. That’s why in times of trouble, organization naturally look for new leaders. When a company is losing money, it hires a new CEO. When a church is floundering, it searches for a new pastor.
• Every sports team has highly talented players. When a sports team keeps losing, it looks for a new head coach. To change the effectiveness of the team, lift up the leadership of the coach. That’s the law of lid.
• India won 2011 World Cup under the leadership of Coach Gary Kristen and undoubtedly Gary’s role was instrumental in this huge success. Now, newspapers are comparing leadership of prospective coaches to Gary because higher the leadership, the better the team will perform.

2. The Law of Influence

• If you lack the ability to influence others, it is almost impossible to lead.
• Being a leader is not just holding a leadership position. The best way to test whether a person can lead rather than just manage is to ask them to create positive change.  Managers can maintain direction, but they can’t change it.  To move people in a new direction, leaders need influence.
• Saatchi & Saatchi board of directors dismissed company CEO. His influence was so great that company stock fell immediately, and many of former CEO’s followers and clients left the company.

3. The Law of Process

• “To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge.” — Benjamin Disraeli
• To lead tomorrow, learn today.
• People skills, emotional strength, vision, momentum, and timing are the areas that can and should be learned. Leaders are always learners.

4. The Law of Navigation

• The truth is that almost anyone can steer the ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course.  Leaders see the whole trip in their minds before they leave the dock.  They have a vision for their destination, they understand what it will take to get there, they know who they will need on the team to be successful, and they recognize the obstacles long before obstacles appear on the horizon.
• The larger the organization, the more clearly the leader needs to see ahead. That’s true because sheer size makes midcourse corrections more difficult.
• An acrostic for charting the course:  PLAN AHEAD: Predetermine a course of action, Lay out your goals, Adjust your priorities, Notify key personnel, Allow time for acceptance, Head into action, Expect problems, Always points to the successes, Daily review your plan.
• Top notch navigators gather information from many sources: gather ideas from their leadership team, talk to junior people to find out what’s happening at grassroots level, spend time with leaders who can mentor them from outside the organization.
• Good navigators count the cost before making commitments for themselves and others.

5. The Law of E.F. Hutton

• Hutton was America’s most influential Stock Market Analyst. When he spoke, everyone listened.
• Litmus test: Go to a meeting of unknown people, watch for 5 minutes. How to know who is the real leader? When somebody asks a question, who do people watch? Who do they wait to hear? The person they look to is the real leader.
• People become leaders because of Personality (who they are), Relationships (who they know), Knowledge (what they know), Intuition (what they feel), Experience (where they have been), Past success (what they have done), and Ability (what they can do).

I will be continuing Leadership series in my coming posts, so stay tuned. Do not forget to add your valuable inputs and experience to help others in comment section below.