True Leadership

True Leadership Brian Patterson 1. Leadership is serving- not self but others. Leaders serve the mission, they serve those to whom they report and those who report to them. 2. True leaders serve with purpose. A person may be in a leadership position and be serving themselves but they are not true leaders. 3. Leaders are examples. W. Edwards Deming said that every organization was perfectly designed to get the results it gets. That design may not be intentional. People make the design work or not. Leaders create the environment that either carries out the stated mission or produce the results of an underlying – often destructive-one. 4. True leadership impact is the result of relationships not position. The weakness of positional authority is described by many authors. People follow those with whom they have a caring relationship. 5. Leadership is demanding and requires recharging. Everyone does this in different way -from extreme sports to attending a seminar. Find your own way. Sometimes, just turning off the cellphone while attending a meeting can be an opportunity to recharge. Besides, it’s polite! 6. Leaders inspire others to great commitment in spite of the risk that must be taken. Staying safe does not require a great deal of leadership when reaching for a goal. The followers must feel psychologically safe in the leader’s care even while attempting great feats. 7. Leaders anticipate difficulty and play different scenarios in their heads when facing a challenge. They are straightforward about the dangers and calm under adversity. 8. True leadership is from and to the heart. A great leader changes the followers into leaders themselves. No matter where they are they cannot help it. A positive, never quite satisfied outlook is infectious. 9. True leaders identify and mentor their key people. They find those among the followers who have specific needed skills and get them into those positions. 10. Leaders turn their closest followers into the leader’s replacements. A leader who serves is always in the process of working themselves out of a job by creating their replacements. 11. True leaders are always running small experiements to test their followers’ attitudes and abilities. The results of those experiments tell the leader how well they are leading. They live for the success of their people.