BECOMING A LEADER

Becoming a Leader
By Brian Tracy

How leaders emerge when leadership is required

There is something magical about the word leadership. In one study, 75% of those polled placed themselves in the top 90% based on leadership qualities. Not only does everyone want to be a leader, and be seen and respected as a leader, but almost everyone considers themselves to be quite good leaders already.

The main question is, what is a leader and how is he or she different from others, from non-leaders? James Cribbin, a lifelong researcher and lecturer on leadership, examined more than 3000 studies on the subject and finally came to the conclusion that there is no clear agreement about what constitutes a leader under all circumstances.

So the first thing we know about leadership is that it is largely situational. Leadership seems to emerge when the situation that demands leadership and the qualities of the leader converge. A person who might emerge as a great leader under one set of circumstances may flounder about and fail in a different situation. An examination of the turnover at the senior levels of our major organizations proves over and over that much of what we call leadership is not easily transferable.

Nonetheless, there has never been an oversupply of men and women with true leadership qualities and there has never been a time in human history when leaders, people with vision, courage, initiative and integrity, were more in demand than today.

Your job is to become a leader in every part of your life. And you do this by taking on the responsibility of leadership whenever it is required.

Now, here are two things you can do to be a more effective leader in your personal and business life.

First, analyze your life and identify the situations where leadership is required. Step up, accept responsibility for results and be willing to take on the job of the leader, whatever it is.

Second, encourage others to take leadership positions whenever it is suitable. Many people become leaders because leadership is thrust upon them and they rise to the challenge.