Kouzes and Posner  wrote in their book:  “ A Leader’s Legacy:-  People commit to causes, not to plans. Commitment is fueled by what we cherish.  If the values about which we care deeply are vividly clear to us, then the whims of fashion and the opinion polls won’t sidetrack us.  A lasting legacy is built on a firm foundation of principles and purpose.

 

This means leadership development is first self development.  Becoming a leader begins with exploration of the inner territory as we search to find out own authentic voice  Leaders must decide what matters in life before they can live a life that matters.

 

Leaders look into the future  to gaze across the time horizon and communicate to us what they see.  It is about being discerning and perceptive.  It is about noticing what is around the corner.

 

 

Serve With Significance

Let us serve with significance.  Exemplary leaders are interested more in other’s success than in their own.  Their greatest achievements are the triumphs of those they serve.  Knowing they made a difference in others’ lives is what motivates their own,  giving leaders the strength to endure the hardships, struggles and inevitable sacrifices required to achieve great things.    Leaders serve selflessly to meet the needs of the team members and organizational objectives.  They are not jealous  to see the success of their team members. Leaders encourage, inspire and motivate their team member to excel in whatever they may be doing.  They groom, coach and mentor their team members to achieve success.

 

 

Ask for Feedback

Serving requires feedback. When we ask “ How am I doing ?  “ they gain valuable insights into how they affect the performance of others. By asking the members how are we performing, will help us to correct any shortcoming and to fulfill the members’ needs by serving them to the best of our ability.  This is what I call the “ Amazing Service. “

 

Core Values

Serving needs us to uphold the organizational  core values.  I like the Toastmasters International  core values which  are integrity, dedication to excellence, respect for an individual and service to the member.  We do what we want others to do likewise; and we do not,  what we do not want others to do to us.  Whatever we do, let us ask ourselves,  by what we are doing, do it add value to our organization ?  Does it benefit our members ?  Is it the truth ? and how the community will benefit ? Thus whatever the leaders do, the team members can follow. 

 

 

Keeping in Touch

Serving by keeping  in touch with our team members.  Members  want to know our values and beliefs, our aims and aspirations, and our hopes and dreams.  Thus it is important to have clarity of ourselves.  Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow.  People follow people, not positions.  If there is no personal relationship, then it is just less likely that people will want to follow.  We need to treat every member as an individual.  To be the best, we must reveal our humanity.  It is the only pathway to a genuine connection with others.

 

Leadership is a relationship between those who aspire to lead and those who choose to follow. People do not follow a leader because of his position. People follow people.  If there’s not some sense of personal relationship, then it is just less likely that people will want to follow.

 

It is the quality of our relationship that most determines whether our relationship  will be ephemeral or lasting.

 

 

Seeing Eye to Eye

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin tells the story of how American Past President Abraham Lincoln consciously and willfully assembled a cabinet made up of the very men he had defeated in    the  election. Kearns called them a : team of rivals “.  Lincoln was a political genius of being able to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him,  to repair injured feelings, that left intended, mist have escalated into permanent hostility.

 

Your enemies are your best teachers.  Lincoln had tapped on this and he became one of the most remembered President of the United States of America.

 

We need to make it possible for people to argue with each other – up, down, in, out and sideways if we are to realize the best from today’s and talented workforce.  We should not strive to win every skirmish, but instead endeavor to unite our decisions so that we can win the battles that matter most.

 

 

Leaders require to  opening doors that are shut, walking in dark that are frightening and touching the flame that burns.  But at the end truth prevail.