Would You Follow You? The Challenge of Personal Leadership

Hi Friends,

When I ask, Would you follow you?, I’m talking about personal leadership. The toughest person to lead is yourself. It’s much easier to tell someone else what to do than to hold yourself accountable to that same standard. Leadership doesn’t take days off—it has to be earned every day.

Many leaders are developed during tough times. I believe that’s where leadership is discovered and uncovered. Think about it—you can’t lead someone else through a problem you have never been through. The experience of coming out of a setback gives us the influence to help someone else going through the same situation.

So if you find yourself going through a tough time, just remember you are being molded into a leader with experience to help and serve others. I love what John Maxwell says: "Everything rises and falls on leadership."

Here are a few leadership traits we can all work on—I know I need it:

• Leaders put the team first. The name on the front of the uniform is always more important than the name on the back.

• Leaders take responsibility. No one wants to follow a person who plays the victim and always makes excuses.

• Leaders are great listeners. We must take a genuine interest in others while they are speaking. Too often, we hear nothing and are only thinking about what we will say next.

• Leaders have great character. They are the same person when no one is watching. They don’t need an audience to do the right thing.

• Leaders never stop learning. They have a never-arriving mindset and are always looking for ways to improve.

A good friend of mine, an agent for Major League Baseball players, once told me, "The way to be the biggest person in the room is to make everyone else in the room the biggest." That’s a lesson I will never forget.

Hope this helps in your leadership training.

Let’s Climb!!!