BECOMING A LEADER: YOU CAN BE IT TOO (II)

Becoming a Leader: You Can be it Too (II)

In our first article, we said that the idea and practice of what leadership means is tricky and diverse. But I also said that the essence of what a leader is has been debated for years in every available setting. We are just a little mixed up.

Today, however, we look at the universal qualities of a leader-
Character Trait One: SELFLESSNESS- Serve Others First

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A very crucial leadership trait is selflessness. John C. Maxwell, a leadership expert says, “True leadership must be for the benefit of the followers, not to enrich the leader. And Nehru Gandhi once said, the only way to find oneself is to lose oneself in the service of others. And for Robert Greenleaf, "Good leaders must first become good servants."

And the Bible is filled with verses of Christ encouraging us to be a leader. Jesus encourages us to be great leaders by doing his will and following his ways. But these verses do not say to lead by merely commanding others, but instead to serve others first. Jesus believes that good leaders can lead by putting the interests of others first, by investing in others, and by working together for common goals and objectives.

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But see, I am not naïve. I know how the world works. The world is mean. I understand the trend. We are in a global school of hard knock, where every man only looks out only for himself or risks being taken out of the playing field. The world says, if you do not blow your own trumpet, nobody is going to blow it for you. The world tells you that you have got to be the smartest, strongest, fastest, cleverest, most popular, most successful, and most fearsome individual or nobody is going to take you serious.

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Put more simply, the world wants you to be served, to subjugate others.

Wrong!

Putting others first is a fundamental leadership trait. In my own experience and the experiences of highly-accomplished people, our life begins to make a headway when we strive and continuously look for ways that care and help can be provided and used to advance the interests of others, rather than focus only on ourselves.

Living for others that they might survive is the single greatest way to experience enduring happiness.

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But each time you find yourself in a self-serving, self-loving, and self-leaking mode, DEACTIVATE it and switch over by remembering what President Woodrow Wilson said, “You are not here to merely make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with great vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”

Talk to you again soon.
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