Self Improvement Made Easy

In our business, we have 5 underlying strategies for success that we call: ‘The 5 Pillars Of Success’. These principles are used as a daily ‘success checklist’ by which we run our business and our lives.

One of those ‘Pillars Of Success’ is ‘The Expectation Of Leadership In Yourself And Others’. Think about this for a moment. Our whole life, in all the various roles in which we find ourselves, we expect (often even demand), leadership in others.

As there are many different definitions of leadership, let me define what I mean by leadership. To lead, for me, is to be in service for other people. Leadership means service.

Leadership calls for respect, and respect has nothing at all to do with ‘like’. It took me a while to realize that ‘respect’ does not have to go hand in hand with ‘like’ and, likewise, ‘leadership’ does not have to go hand in hand with ‘telling people how to do something’. Rather, it is to do with inspiring people and empowering them to do things for themselves.

To be a leader, we need to first start respecting ourselves. We need to show up every day in our lives and in our businesses and give both the respect they deserve. Quite simply, we can not help other people before we help ourselves.

As a child, we naturally assume that our parents will be our leaders. At school, we expect out teachers to be leaders. As adults, in every single one of our daily transactions, there is an expectation of leadership from the many people that we come into contact with.

We expect the boss to lead the company. We expect the shop assistant to ‘be in charge’ for us so that we can select and pay for our goods. We expect the bank clerk to explain the state of our finances and to lead us through our financial transactions.

Wed expect leadership in others literally every day. But what of the leadership we give to others? If we expect those around us to be in leadership for us, shouldn’t we be expecting leadership in ourselves also? Shouldn’t we be demanding that we are also a role model?

So, the next time you find yourself getting frustrated whilst standing in line at the bank, or cussing the weatherman for getting the forecast wrong, ask yourself this – Do you stand in leadership for yourself and others in all aspects of your life every single day?

If you are a good leader, then congratulations, I can guarantee that your life and your business are thriving right now. However, if you’re not currently being the leader that you should be, before you point the finger of blame at somebody else, remember that that you are no better than them, and people you know are pointing at and blaming you.
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This article was edited and distributed by Mark Walters on behalf of Mandy Swift, who was the original author. Next : Success Strategies