The Six Essential Leadership Attributes
Leadership is the foundation for all organizations, whether corporate, nonprofit or government. Leadership is a high calling and responsibility, upon which all else the organization is or does rests. Moreover, leadership is always top down, never bottom up.
Therefore, much has been written on the subject of leadership and many writers and speakers have tried to list those attributes they believe are essential for leaders. However, most often these attempts focus upon traits that make a leader personable, affable and popular. The following six attributes are results of character and personal integrity and as such are deeply seated within those who possess them. They must be developed through self-discipline, time and pressure; they are not inherited; and cannot not feigned, at least not for long. Such attributes are the result of instruction, commitment and a deep concern for what is right, as well as for the best interests of others. They are modeled on a daily basis. Tested and proven in times of trial and adversity. Moreover, they are as precious as gold and equally rare.
Attribute #1 of Leaders - Set High Standards
Leaders set high standards for themselves and those who follow. I am reminded of leaders like Booker T. Washington, who began with a vision, not of what was, but of what could and should be. Born a slave shortly before the outbreak of the civil war, he taught himself to read. As an adult, he saw the need to establish a college for ex-slaves, who were excluded from the existing higher education system. When he first arrived at Tuskegee, AL, where he had expected initial funding and a building suitable to his purpose in founding the Tuskegee Institute, he found only ruins. At this point, most of us would have given up or decided it was not the right place or time, retreating to wait for a better turn of circumstances. Instead Booker T. Washington began by teaching his students to garden, so that they might eat and sell the excess to raise the funds necessary to buy books. Then he taught them to make bricks from which to build the buildings and for sale to raise cash for the other materials needed. Booker T. Washington knew that nothing of true value resulted from any course of action other than by hard work. Indeed, this was his motto and a foundation upon which his students began their education. He set high standards for himself and his students and he expected results.
Attribute #2 of Leaders - Live Your Standards and Mentor Those Who Follow
Leaders live up to the standards they have set and mentor those who are attempting to follow them. Many leaders are consistent in demanding of themselves compliance with the standards that they espouse. Those who do not are only fooling themselves. Nothing disqualifies a would-be leader faster than a double standard, one for them and another for those under their authority. Anyone who thinks that they can maintain such a charade is sorely mistaken. Their subordinates will soon see through their duplicity and loyalty will rapidly be replaced by disgust and only grudging obedience and lip service.
Where most leaders fail however, is in mentoring those who follow. For some reason leaders expect that their followers will learn through osmosis, how to attain to the standards set by their leadership. Certainly, modeling by the leaders is a necessary component of the process, but much more is needed. You do not train a child from infancy on through adolescence by modeling proper behavior alone. It takes consistent, concerted effort verbally communicating not only what is expected, but how. Yet for some reason, most leaders think that merely establishing the standards is all that is necessary. Effective leaders invest themselves into their followers. The best example from all of history is Jesus. He spent three
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