Posts Tagged leadership qualities
Finding Leaders in the Darndest Places
Some of our greatest leaders were swindlers and thieves. Why aren’t today’s youth given the same chance?
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”~ John Quincy Adams
As I sit to write this article I find myself being reminded of a young lady (though she would never call herself that) whom I know. She’s a classic anti-leader. In fact, her leadership qualities are so strong that she could easily be the next Pierre Elliot Trudeau if she so desired.
It’s wonderful when you have a group of students come forward and volunteer for leadership roles in your school. It’s great to see them express their ‘type A’ personalities in such a positive way. However, they always tend to be from one or two social groups and don’t represent a good cross section of the school population.
There are leaders among every group of students. Think of it this way, someone has to make the decision of what to do Saturday night when everyone else is sitting on the fence saying “I dunno, I’ll do whatever man.” For various reasons, these students will not take on formalized leadership roles in their schools, perhaps they don’t feel they are good enough, they don’t know anyone else in ‘that circle’, or they just don’t see themselves as a leader.
10 Ways to Develop Your Latent Leader
latent (adj.) – Not visible or apparent, but capable of developing or being expressed; dormant.
Everyone has leadership qualities. The visible difference lies in the degree those qualities are developed. Each individual chooses their own path and determines to what degree skills are developed and how those skills or qualities will be expressed. There are born leaders, but even those people evolve their approach to leadership over time.
Leadership skills are valuable in every crack and crevice of life. You could be the most successful person in your field and you will still face an endless stream of problems and situations that require you to seek new and innovative strategies for dealing with them. A leader approaches problem-solving with an eye on the future. Whether you’re leading yourself, your family, or a vast enterprise, it is important to develop the skills necessary to move forward with confidence.
I have included here what I consider to be the Top 10 Ways to Develop Your Latent Leader.