by Richard Brody
After more than four decades, of involvement, in nearly all areas, related to leading, from identifying, qualifying, training, developing, and consulting, to well – over a thousand actual, and/ or, potential leaders, to serving, personally, as a leader, in various positions, I believe everyone benefits, when the leadership, is, truly, consistently, SINCERE! In order to inspire, motivate, and get stakeholders, to become loyal followers, one must clearly demonstrate, by his words, and actions, he is worthy, of being followed, and, shows, he is ready, willing, and able to earn their respect! With that in mind, this article will attempt to, briefly, consider, examine, review, and discuss, using the mnemonic approach, what this means and represents, and why this matters.
1. Service; sustainable; strengths/ stronger; solutions; system: Unless/ until, someone prioritizes service, and serving the best interests, of the group, and stakeholders, how can he possibly, be considered to be, worthy of following? He must, realistically, identify, both strengths and weaknesses, address areas of weakness, effectively, and use every strength, in a way, which makes the organization, stronger, etc! His solutions must be, both, relevant, and sustainable, and he must perceive and conceive of, create, develop, and implement, the best possible system, to bring his ideas, to fruition.
2. Integrity; ideals/ ideology; ideas; intentions: We need our leaders, to maintain, absolute integrity, and align their ideas, with the ideals, and ideology, of their specific organization, and constituents! Usually, we can learn a lot about the character of a potential leader, by clearly, reviewing his intentions, and rationale!
3. Needs: The primary focus of true leaders, must be relate, directly, to the actual, and perceived needs, of the specific group, and its stakeholders! There is no such thing as one – size – fits – all, when it comes to the necessities of effective, meaningful leadership!
4. Character; create; cooperate: If, before we chose any leader, we thoroughly, evaluated, and considered, someone’s quality of character, an organization would benefit! Great leading comes from creating a situation, where cooperation was emphasized, a the priority, was to seek a meeting – of – the – minds, for the greater good!
5. Empathy; emphasis; efforts: Shouldn’t a leader, effectively listen, and learn, from every conversation, and experience, in order to proceed with genuine empathy, and consistently, place his emphasis, and efforts, creating a plan, strategy, and actions, to proceed, forward, in the best, possible way?
6. Realistic; relevant; responsive/ responsible: You can’t wear, rose – colored, glasses, and achieve what is needed, and necessary! Great leading must be relevant, responsive to needs, and responsible, in both, the short, and longer – term!
7. Excellence; endurance; energize: Good – enough, is not, the best way, to proceed! Great leaders must demand their utmost degree of personal excellence, and commitment, realizing, it takes endurance, to overcome obstacles, and challenges, and prioritizing, energizing, and serving, their constituents, and organization, to the best of one’s abilities!
There are several factors/ components, involved, in one’s quest to become a true. effective, SINCERE leader! Will you be, up, to the tasks?
About the author
Richard has owned businesses, been a COO, CEO, Director of Development, consultant, professionally run events, consulted to thousands of leaders, and conducted personal development seminars, for 4 decades. Rich has written three books and thousands of articles. His company, PLAN2LEAD, LLC has an informative website http://plan2lead.net and Plan2lead can also be followed on Facebook http://facebook.com/Plan2lead