The burden of leadership II: myth busters

Happy new month! I hope you had a great first month? Yesterday, in this part of our world was the Super Bowl and it was fun watching, although the teams playing were not my favorites. The last time, we touched on the burden of leadership and stressed leading is an arduous task, and sometimes the burden of leadership has led us to believe certain longstanding myths which is almost becoming true. We looked at some of them in our last post

Today, we want to focus on what I call myth busters. Like I alluded the last time, all are called to leadership and there is a certain level of influence that can’t happen until one answers the call to leadership. So we want to look at a few of these keys which will punch holes in to some of our traditional myths concerning leadership. Please follow along

1. Work on yourself– the greatest gift you can give is to yourself and that is investing in yourself. Know who you are, know your make up, know your strengths and weaknesses, know what makes you tick and what doesn’t, know your passions, know your pet peeves… Take time to know yourself and invest in areas that you are weak at, where you feel are your strengths, play those strengths to the max and be of service. It will surprise you that many don’t know themselves at all. Working on yourself gives you the opportunity to fine tune your game, straighten any rough edges for the long haul ahead. I thought of Tom Brady of the New England Patriots, now the player with the most Super Bowl rings at six and widely considered the greatest quarterback in NFL history. He lost last year to the Philadelphia Eagles but came back stronger and won yesterday. A documentary was shown last year on how he preps himself up for a game, his training regimen among others. Success is never accidental but intentional. Please what are you working on? It is easier to answer the call to leadership when prepared

2. Find a mentor– A mentor is a teacher. If you want to be a leader, this is one of the most effective ways. I am where I am presently because of mentors. I can think of two right now who have been a great source of hope and help to me. They unearthed every gifting in me without me knowing I possessed those virtues. Later in this year, I am going to write about these two people who are still active and present in my life. There are two kinds of mentors: direct and indirect. The former are the ones who can sit down with you face to face for a session of coaching and have a personal relationship with. The latter are the ones you follow through remote means such as their books, videos, speaking engagements and the like. Those you have no personal or direct contact with. Both dimensions of mentoring are effective. Anything difficult always has an answer in a mentor. Let me quote King Solomon of old who said, “There is nothing new under the sun…” meaning any venture you need to undertake, someone has gone ahead of you in that field and done that. It will only take humility to learn from such a person.

3. Read– knowledge is key when it comes to leading. It is said the average leader reads between 40-50 books a year. So please acquaint yourself with a book if you want to be a good one. Books in a sense is a company. When you read, you are in fellowship with the author’s thoughts. The law of average stated by Jim Rohn is “you are the average of the five people who you spend the most time with”. Authors are remote friends, if I should put it that way.  There are many good books on the subject of leadership which you can buy to read the information in it, practice what you have learnt and see your influence grow to the next level. It is not surprising that the best leaders are the educated ones; not educated as in formal education but those who read and search for relevant, applicable information. 

These are a few of the myth busters when applied will help us in becoming better servant leaders 

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Till we meet again

Peace & Love