Category: Leadership Principles

Welcome to the third installment of the 10 Things You Do Not Know About Leadership. In this weekly, series I cover topics that tend to be overlooked, forgotten, or completely misunderstood. By sharing with you, it is my hope and belief that I help in eradicating many of misconceptions that come with leadership.

#3. LEADERSHIP INVOLVES MAKING LOTS OF MISTAKES

Like anything in life MISTAKES will be made. No one is perfect and you will make mistakes. Consider making mistakes part of life. Making mistakes should be anticipated and expected. Plain and simple, a leader that does not make mistakes is playing it cautiously and carefully.

A leader that plays cautiously and carefully is NOT a leader. Leaders should have a level of caution and carefulness but NOT to the point of never committing a mistake. Playing it safe is NOT how leaders grow and learn. Playing it safe means the individual is scared, fearful and not ready to take command.

Playing it safe is NOT what leading is all about. Of course, you have a duty to keep your team safe from harm, however, if all you do is play it safe, how will your team know to go with their gut, trust their instincts, or take a chance? Folks, if you are not prepared to take chances and make mistakes along the way, then you are NOT prepared to lead. Still hesitant? Just know that no matter what; every decision you make will not always be the right one.

Leaders, making mistakes and learning from those mistakes is the number one way to gain experience. Gaining Experience is the one thing that ALL leaders must do and have. It is through gaining and having experience that TRUE & AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP is born and Great Leaders are made. NO TEXTBOOK will ever replace experiencing the ups and downs of being a leader.

Remember, no one ever became a Great Leader by having the minimum amount of experience. Get out there, get your hands dirty, jump into the trenches, dig foxholes, chop wood, carry water, get some REAL-WORLD experience because nothing is automatic. It is earned.

Greatness in leadership comes from doing what must be done especially if no one wants to do it. Great Leaders are born in the muck and mud. They are born when sweat and tears are the norm and not the exception. Great Leaders will lead from the front and not from behind a desk. Great Leaders rarely spend time behind a desk but most certainly spend time out among their troops.

Great Leaders are out on the front-lines. They are well aware that they do not HAVE to be out there but they go anyway. They go not only to see, firsthand, how the battle is going but they go so that the people out on the front-lines know their leader is there and not behind the watchful eye of a gatekeeper or two.

While gatekeepers serve a purpose, they are also a catalyst towards making mistakes. Mistakes that will prove costly to the leader. The comfort and safety that comes with having gatekeepers is what will lead to misunderstandings and miscommunication between the leader and those they lead. Folks, when it comes to misunderstanding and miscommunication, leaders may never truly recover from such mistakes.

Leaders be very careful when it comes to depending too much on your gatekeepers as they will, without hesitation and on your behalf, create climates and environments that will be at most unrecoverable. So, please proceed with caution but don’t be too cautious or too careful that nothing great ever happens.

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Thank you for your time and please come back next week for the 4th thing of the 10 Things You Did Not Know About Leadership.
-David

Welcome to the second installment of the 10 Things You Do Not Know About Leadership. In this weekly, series I cover topics that tend to be overlooked, forgotten, or completely misunderstood. By sharing with you, it is my hope and belief that I help in eradicating many of misconceptions that come with leadership.

#2. LEADERSHIP IS NOT A TITLE NOR IS IT A POSITION

Someone, somewhere is selling people on the notion that having a degree automatically makes them a “leader”. Leadership is NEVER automatically given. So please do not be fooled into believing any of that nonsense.

The same applies when it comes to believing that because you hold a certain position you are “automatically” a leader, well guess what? THEY ARE WRONG. And if you believe that having such a position makes you the “automatic leader” well YOU ARE WRONG, as well!

Seriously, if you truly believe that because you have a degree such as a Bachelors, Masters, or Ph.D., MD, JD makes you “automatically” a leader, again YOU ARE WRONG. Of course, and most certainly, you should be applauded for having the self-discipline for going the distance with your education. Kudos to you.

However, your real-world education is just beginning. It is through the education you have along with the real-world experience you are going to earn and the wisdom you will gain that will make you a true leader. Believe it. Believe it as there are no shortcuts.

Remember, nothing is automatic, especially when it comes to being a Leader. So do not make the mistake of thinking you are the “automatic leader”. Believing that hype and then projecting that nonsensical belief onto others will make your true leadership journey all the more difficult to accomplish. Why is that you ask? Simple.

Those you are “automatically leading” will be hesitant and resistant to your efforts. This will then lead you to receive more push-back from those around you. For the most part you arrive fresh without having to prove yourself and expect those to follow you. The push-back will also ensure that you climb to the top will be that much harder, arduous and difficult.

Unless you are prepared to change your mindset to a more genuine and authentic approach to leading, you will be trusted less and more suspect about what are your true intentions.

When it comes to changing your mindset when it comes to the notion of “automatic leader” was your education automatically bestowed on you when you decided to go to college or university? No. You had to work for it. You had to actually crack open a book, attend a lecture or two, and then finally take some tests to see where you are and if you are capable. You had to pay your dues.

There is no difference when it comes to leadership. You pay your dues by learning some valuable life lessons, by getting to know the people you are responsible for. You also pay your dues by getting knocked around by life. You will be tested and whether you pass or fail you will still gain valuable life experience. Again, there is no shortcut to any of this.

You have to put in the work because nothing will be simply handed over to you. There is too much at stake for anyone to just say ‘here ya go.” You will have to prove yourself long before you sit down in the chair of leadership. You will have to prove it to yourself and even then, you will know when you are trying to fool yourself. But don’t worry others will quickly see through you when you are trying to fool them, as well. So, stop with the false bravado or wrong expectations before you start and get to work on your true & authentic self.

Thank you for your time and please come back next week for the 3rd of the 10 Things You Did Not Know About Leadership.
-David

Glitz, Glamour and Glory are usually the words most people associate when they hear the word LEADERSHIP. Well, in perfect conditions the 3Gs are correct and spot on. However, life is NOT all glitz, glamour, and glory. It never its. Life is not perfect and thus the misconceptions of the 3Gs sadly refuses to go away.

Life is usually the opposite of perfect. Life is more often than naught dirty, rough and tumble, and downright mean. However, for some odd reason or another people seem to gravitate only to the opposite of reality. They would rather believe the life of a leader is problem free and the easiest thing to achieve. Of course, those that have tasted LEADERSHIP, even if was for a brief moment or for the long term know anything claiming to be easy is a falsehood, a tall tale.

On the premise of anything worth having or being is easy, I have compiled this list. I ask you, the reader, to let me know if I have missed something or need to fine tune the content on this list, I invite you to please reach out either via email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @DaveGuerra and fill me in.

Of course, some, if not everyone, may know these 10 things but for those that do not know these 10 things please review them and I also invite you to take a look and check it out as there may be a different perspective for you to think about.

Without hesitation and delay, let’s get started…

#1 ANYONE CAN BE A LEADER

There is absolutely nothing in writing declaring LEADERS ARE BORN, NOT MADE. There is no resolution, no declaration, no proclamation. There is bias. There is laziness. There are people not wanting to step up and be a leader, in doing that they put others down.

As a young child, I was witness to others that by today’s standards were quite extreme. There I was and yet my elders were quick to point out that some people were just born to be leaders. ‘If you are not born a leader then you can never be one’ was the overtone, the “party line”, if you will, that was fed to me for a good part of my early life.

Then one day, someone saw that I had the ability to lead others. I didn’t see that. I stopped seeing that a long time before that day. That day was the day I decided to join the US Army. While I am the oldest child in my family as well as the oldest cousin (on both sides), some people were too wrapped up in their misery they never thought about that by using a couple of words of encouragement, growing up I would have felt good about myself.

Then again, they did not feel good about themselves so naturally all bets were off for anyone else. Most people don’t see that their words or actions can have a lasting impact on the growth of a child into adolescence and then into young adulthood.

Over the years, I have discovered and met others that had those individuals in their lives that were negative and quick to put them down. I also met others that were encouraged from an early age and have done good for themselves because they had a head start in life. Please note, the head start was not a silver spoon but instead, positive encouragement. Encouragement through the use of words like ‘I have trust in you’, ‘I believe in you’, ‘you have my support’, ‘I got your back’, ‘I am in your corner’, and so on throughout their early life. Folks, words have a deeper impact than actions. Then again, actions rooted in ignorance and incompetence also play a role in stunting the development of a child.

Sure, it is easy to say “leaders are born and not made” when the response is based on not knowing the difference. What is difficult is knowing that everyone has the potential to be not just a leader but a Great Leader. Everyone has it in them to be the leader they have always wanted. Unfortunately, for far too many people it is their past experience that curtails their ambition and in turn, brings others down.

The negativity that others pass along can be disheartening and demotivating to others especially when the others are young and highly impressionable. However, as we grow, we realize that it is not too late to be a leader. It is never too late to step up and lead. We know this because we also know that NO ONE is born a leader and EVERYONE has it in them to lead.

Thank you for your time and please come back next week for the second of the 10 Things You Do Not Know About Leadership

-David