DIRECT Leadership

Do the FREE online DIRECT LEADERSHIP AUDIT right now!
 
These six aspects are the summary of what makes a great leader and a great person. It draws not only on my lifetime and business experience, but also on that of Jim Collins, Stephen Covey, Ken Wilber & Robin Sharma. Not to mention the eternity of Buddhist texts, Eastern and Western philosophers who are too numerous to cite, but have been espousing these beliefs for thousands of years.

Suffice to say, that whilst I have taken the time to summarise and make it palatable to the business executive, this position is not unique or original, rather eternal and obvious after consistent and insightful examination of life.

Dogged Determination
 
Without exception, greatness does not come easily. No matter who you choose to examine because of their greatness, it has come at great cost and relentless pursuit. If you are not willing to pursue greatness on a day to day, week by week, month by month, year by year basis, then you will not succeed. You must be robust, courageous and dogged every day.

 



 Inspirational
Managers motivate and leaders inspire. To inspire means you are leading by example through talking the talk and walking the walk. To inspire you must have absolute clarity of your day-to-day mission and your distant vision. You must ooze consistency, application and life force. The clarity of your mission must be obvious to all that surround you including your family, friends, business colleagues and strangers.

 

Respectful humility

Respect is not taken, it is given. To show respect and humility for your fellow man is not always an easy task. This becomes particularly so when you start to experience an element of success and then your ego is tempted to "know, assume and discount". To remain humble after success, is both the hardest and the easiest pursuit for man. Hardest because the signals around us are telling us we know, and the easiest because inclusiveness and connectedness are human nature and can only occur when you are humble.

Energy to burn
 
Without energy, the best laid plans go unfulfilled. Your strategy may be impeccable, but if you do not have the energy to execute, then everything is for nothing. To be inspirational, you must possess energy. People love energetic people. Energetic does not necessarily mean extroverted and outspoken, in fact more often than not, hyper people have fleeting energy, whilst the more understated or moderate have sustained warmth and vigor. To create this sustained warmth and vigor, namely vitality, you need to eat energetic food, exercise both forcefully and passively (eg. gym and yoga respectively), be able to both focus and quieten the mind and, finally, let go. Energy is about being in the flow of life, which requires both intensive push and the attentive yield.


Childlike Fun
 
The childhood humour of our past is continually suppressed by the responsibilities of our adulthood present. We allow, through conservative rationalisation, the imperatives of life to squeeze out the lighthearted perspective driven by youth. Ironically, through a yearning based on a vacancy in their own life, people are drawn to fun. Despite resisting having fun on a regular basis, people consistently desire it. Fun is always available as a source of relief and energy, no matter how dire the situation. Fun is an essential aspect of greatness because it lubricates the resistance of all, and enhances the contribution of any.

Timing

 Life and business are all about timing. The right timing can overcome insufficient skill, ability or resources. The wrong timing can negate the best skill, ability and resources. To be able to read the flow and sense the timing is vital to greatness, leadership and success. It comes from a place of experience, natural rhythm, flow and perception. Experience cannot be faked forever, and eventually lack of experience manifests in poor timing. All life's moments have a natural rhythm and flow that is apparent on a spectrum of visibility depending on your ability to perceive it. Sincere listening and atunement is the only way to connect continuously with the rhythm of people and life. Sincerely listening to yourself, others and your environment allows you to see the flow and the timeliness required for action.

Do the FREE online DIRECT LEADERSHIP AUDIT right now!