

With Character, On Your Way To Leadership!
Credibility is so difficult to acquire and to maintain but so quick and easy to lose.
Credibility is 45% how you look, 45% how you sound and 10% what you say.
In agreement with McCroskey, scholar in West Virginia University, there are five factors of credibility:
This quality is acquired when an employee has succeeded to champion the company’s vision, engage in innovation, focus on performance and results, and to build a high performance organization.
With competence, an employee is able to explain concept with the appropriate message and to calibrate a message to a specific listener.
Credibility is easily lost if someone:
This quality is acquired when an employee has succeeded to foster a climate of innovation, to foster and model the company’s values.
Credibility is easily lost if someone:
This quality is acquired when an employee has succeeded to manage workforce performance and delegate appropriately.
Credibility is easily lost if someone:
This quality is acquired when an employee has succeeded to demonstrate interpersonal skills.
Extroversion as defined in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI).
This quality is acquired when an employee has succeeded to passionately drive the company’s strategy.
So Smart But…: How Intelligent People Lose Credibility – And How They Can Get It Back by Allen K. Weiner is a self-development book is very relatable, accurate and was very difficult to read since I have met up with most of the scenarios and possess some of the corporate personality flaws discussed in this book.
Allen N. Weiner, in So Smart But…, provides tips on how to preserve and enhance your credibility in the workplace.
Furthermore, every argument is properly illustrated with realistic workplace scenario and is not gender biased.
According to Allen N. Weiner, to climb the social ladder, it seems that one needs to :
Your ability to lead determines your effectiveness, the height of your success, the limit of your vision, the impact of your influence.
To overcome the law of the lid, you have to increase your ability to lead.
Influence is an important part of leadership.
You have to put in work to gain influence. It is not about a title or a leadership position and cannot be bought.
With influence, you can rally people to a cause, move people in a new direction, and you can win people over on the long run.
Leadership is a lifelong process.
LEADERSHIP IS DEVELOPED DAILY, NOT IN A DAY. - John C. Maxwell in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Click To Tweet
Leadership is a collection of skills that need continual improvement, personal growth and learning.
Leadership requires a lot of self discipline and determination. It is important for leaders to open themselves up for improvement to start slow and fight their way up.
Leaders need to effectively navigate their way through life, while knowing people are depending on them.
In order to give themselves the best chances at success, they:
Leaders become real leaders thanks to their character, relationships, knowledge, experience, past successes and abilities. People will not follow you because of your position.
The law of E. F. Hutton helps you figure out who the real leader in the room really is.
To find the real leader, observe the reaction of the people in the room when the real leader speaks.
Leaders must communicate their character, exemplify their behavior, maintain their credibility and avoid breaking the trust of their followers.
When leaders make a mistake, they must quickly admit it and ask for forgiveness.
Leaders who are stronger and better leaders than their followers tend to gain respect.
The law of intuition is a complex part of leadership, relies on instinct, facts and other factors.
Leaders who work with the law of intuition are able to sense a situation, to read people and themselves, to use their intuition to achieve their goals and to solve problems.
The law of magnetism states that who you are is who you attract.
Leaders who follow this law are able to attract the people who possess the same qualities as they do.
They attract people with same attitude, from the same generation and background, with the same values, life experiences and abilities.
Character makes trust possible. And trust makes leadership possible. - John C. Maxwell in The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership Click To Tweet
Leaders who observe this law touch people emotionally, know how to communicate with people, connect with them and show that they care.
The more leaders work on the connection with their employees, the more employees are loyal and demonstrate a strong work ethic.
The people in the leader’s inner circle will determine the leader’s potential.
Leaders understand that they cannot be a lone ranger and acknowledge the purpose and strengths of the inner circle.
Successful and secure leaders empower and believe in their team.
Those who don’t create a barrier that their employees cannot overcome.
The law of reproduction works in a way where only leaders are capable of developing leaders and by teaching them what they know.
Some leaders don’t develop other leaders because they don’t have time or because of their own insecurities.
People buy into leaders who have a vision.
If they don’t like the leader or the vision, they get another leader.
If the leader is credible, then people believe that the vision is credible as well.
Leaders who observe this law refuse defeat, dedicate themselves to victory and find a way to achieve success.
Leaders understand that to create change they need to create momentum.
Momentum is contagious, improves performance and makes the leader look good.
Leaders spend their time prioritizing and recognize that doing more does not equate success.
They use the Pareto principle and the three Rs( requirement, return, reward).
Sometimes, leaders have to sacrifice themselves to succeed and to gain opportunities.
The higher you go up on the ladder, the more you have to sacrifice.
Successful leaders read situations, recognize when to lead and when to take the right action at the right time.
Potential leaders are hard to find and to attract but leaders who develop other leaders multiply growth within their organization.
Leaders who leave a legacy lead with tomorrow in mind, make developing other leaders as part of the culture, sacrifice for future success and pass on the torch.
The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow is an easy to read leadership development book.
In The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow, John C. Maxwell makes a list of 21 laws of leadership to help people better themselves and their organization.
These laws are the universal foundation for every area of your life. They can be learnt, be in standalone, have serious consequences, be practiced on a daily basis.
Maxwell has spent most of his life in leadership position. So, he entertains us with uncommon, historical and adventurous examples that everyone can relate to.
Finally, he encourages leaders to learn and go apply what they learnt.
Leadership is complicated. It has many facets: respect, experience, emotional strength, people skills, discipline, vision, momentum, timing—the list goes on. As you can see, many factors that come into play in leadership are intangible. That’s why leaders require so much seasoning to be effective.
The good news is that your leadership ability is not static. No matter where you’re starting from, you can get better.
The leader finds the dream and then the people. The people find the leader, and then the dream.
MANY PEOPLE TODAY WANT TO CLIMB UP THE CORPORATE LADDER BECAUSE THEY BELIEVE THAT FREEDOM AND POWER ARE THE PRIZES WAITING AT THE TOP. THEY DON’T REALIZE THAT THE TRUE NATURE OF LEADERSHIP IS REALLY SACRIFICE.
For the most part, they are responsible for your motivation, responsibilities, career prospects, work-life balance, engagement and alignment.
Motivation is the combination of traits that drive someone to achieve their goals.
Therefore, demotivation occurs when there is a significant loss of drive, eagerness or willingness to do the work.
The loss of motivation mostly translates itself into:
Unfortunately, toxic leaders are often the cause of said demotivation.
Not only are they closed to new ideas, they will gladly criticize and shut others down.
Furthermore, they do not embrace change. They will usually think that they know best and will follow through on bad ideas despite the evidence of the contrary.
They let bad behavior go unchecked.
Illegal behaviors such as toxic competition, sexual harassment, prurient curiosity, invasion of privacy, racism, sexism and discriminatory speeches are ignored, celebrated and are embedded in the company culture.
They avoid engaging in difficult tasks or challenging conversations.
They also behave poorly but get away with it because they have the power to do so or because human resources turn a blind eye to their behavior.
As a leader, ensuring that your team members meet the bottom line is surely important.
However, employees who cannot meet unrealistic goals tend to get demotivated and quit.
They feel free to disrespect their team members, take advantage of people or play with their team like pawns.
They also feel free to fire people or demonstrate that they are replaceable.
Demotivated perform at their minimal best but not because they lack discipline.
Competitive and jealous leaders have huge egos and very low self esteem.
In this scenario, high performers tend to go unrecognized and unrewarded.
Even worse, their ideas are stolen and their achievements ignored.
Leaders who micromanage lack trust in the abilities of their team members.
They don’t allow their team to make or correct mistakes.
Bad leaders don’t listen to anyone or anything.
By doing so, they don’t understand their team members potential and don’t adapt projects to them.
The reality is that when teams don’t feel heard, they ultimately get demotivated.
They are unaware of their team members responsibilities.
Leaders who don’t work on a relationship with their team members rarely notice when a team member gets demotivated.
When teams don’t see the bigger picture or feel like they are in the loop, they become unable to measure their performance, involvement and their impact.
They pit employees one against the other, play favorites and treat others unfairly.
That way, while employees are occupied fighting, nobody has the time they question their poor leadership.
In that case, motivation is lossed and employees usually quit.
They don’t allow remote working and don’t encourage a healthy work-life balance.
They are oblivious to the fact that motivated teams contribute twice as more than demotivated ones.
People don’t leave jobs, they leave terrible leaders.
destroy.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
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Usually, leadership development boosts employee morale, engagement, alignment and productivity.
“Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.” – SETH GODIN
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” – John F. Kennedy
“You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can’t get them across, your ideas won’t get you anywhere.” – Lee Iacocca
“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.” – Theodore Roosevelt
A leader’s attitude is caught by his or her followers more quickly than his or her actions. – John C. Maxwell
There are several leadership programs out there.
It is important that you find the right one for you to gain the ability to inspire, influence, improve your performance and cope with challenges.
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Powerful leaders remain in communication with their authentic self, are honest with themselves, reveal their true abilities and have developed their personal power.
They are confident enough to have achieved success on their own terms.
Powerful leaders decide what they want even if they don’t know how to get it.
Then, they do whatever it takes to get it.
Basically, they declare their intentions and commit to them.
To set the best intentions possible, they get to know themselves and learn to deal with their strengths and weaknesses.
To achieve success, powerful leaders tend to let go of what is safe and familiar.
They learn that they have to give up the good for the great and chose what is right for them along the way.
At some point, powerful leaders take risks, play the game and play to win.
They focus on winning no matter what.
Powerful leaders speak up for themselves when something goes wrong or something is bothering them.
Speaking allows them not to play victim.
Unfortunately, in modern society, women who speak up still hold a negative connotation. Most of the time, outspoken women are seen as bitchy and are punished for speaking up. Whereas outspoken men are seen as assertive, direct and forceful.
Powerful leaders don’t stop at what is doable or at what they think they are capable of.
In addition, they take risks, stretch themselves, feel the fear but go after their goals anyway.
Consequently, they often bite off more than they can chew but still manage to succeed.
Powerful leaders surround themselves with people who can individually and collectively believe in their abilities, who can guide them, and who can show them how to succeed.
Powerful leaders don’t wait for opportunities to come their way, they create them.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
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We all have a dream of outperforming ourselves at work and staying consistent and moving up in our career.
However, we have difficulties bringing our wishes and expectations to life.
Furthermore, in the fast and highly competitive corporate world, some of our attitudes, assumptions, values, flaws often render us completely ineffective, come in the way of us being the best version of ourselves, from learning new skills, from developing our talents.
The reality is that, despite our best intentions, we are often our worst enemies, are unable to improve our career, to achieve our definition of success, to satisfy our higher purpose.
We thereby harbor dissatisfaction, self-defeating thoughts and resort to self-sabotaging actions.
Most of the time, self-sabotage takes roots from collaborators sometimes abusing substance, striving too hard for materialistic success.
Self-sabotage also stems from an inability to control extreme negative thoughts and emotions such as anger, guilt or resentment, and an inability to control other people. Indeed, in the workplace, low performing employees and leaders tend to either:
Becoming a better performer and contributor in the workplace doesn’t end at solely executing your duties and providing acceptable results, it also means working on your character and core values. To enable effective performance in the workplace, it is necessary to:
If you happen to abuse substance or are in emotional distress in the workplace, don’t be ashamed, you are not alone. Please talk about it to your closest family and friends, or find the nearest Workplace Help Center.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
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Being a great leader depends on how well they know themselves. Leaders must make sure that they are self-aware, clearly communicate their goals and expectations, reach their goals, set high standards, expect quality work and meet deadlines, demonstrate that all their team members matter, show gratitude, don’t settle and spend time with their team.
Needless to say, a little introspection is required from time to time.
Wondering how do you become the best version of yourself?
Sometimes, we end up in or go after leadership positions but don’t understand why or how we got there.
It is always important to assess our goals, values and purpose every step of the way.
Leadership encapsulates different concepts and key competencies.
For most, leadership is the ability to wheel power, to influence people positively in order to be successful, to bring like-minded individuals together towards a common goal or vision and to translate that vision into reality.
In order to be effective you must figure out what leadership means to you.
Most people want to lead because they see themselves in power, in control, with status and doing whatever they want.
However, leaders are always held accountable for their actions, have to serve as models and have to exhibit exemplary behavior.
Without an ethical purpose in mind, they will not be able to sustain their role very long.
If you weren’t a leader, what would you do? What career would you pursue?
Do you have sufficient resources to achieve your goals and yourself?
Leaders must find at least one field in which they excel. This will develop their credibility, their confidence and will help you be of assistance to people in need.
If your leadership roles don’t correspond to your values, it is time to rethink your career.
Learning to center yourself, to choose peace of mind requires that you acquire new healthy habits and that you question your thoughts that most often are an illusion or distorted memories.
Figure out how to preserve your time and energy, how to ensure your growth, how to continually improve as a person, and how to boost your leadership self-esteem?
Some people get into positions to please their families, impress their friends or flatter their own egos.
A job or a role in which you feel boxed in is frustrating, leaves little space for you to develop your skills or maximize your strengths.
As a leader, you must project yourself in the future and visualize the legacy that you want to leave.
Integrity is currently a rare character trait and most sought after leadership attribute that can help you succeed in the workplace as much as in life.
It actually goes a long way and projects more authority and credibility than a title or a position would.
Furthermore, the team you lead, the environment that you work in is a direct reflection of you. If you want a trusting workplace, be trustworthy.
Being open to learn and to explore is detrimental to success.
To start the learning process, you can read books, take trainings and classes, and talk to people who are in positions that you aspire to.
Furthermore, you must understand that if you seek knowledge, you will never fully be an expert.
Creating work-life balance is not giving equal attention to both work and life.
But, it means that you are satisfied with your contributions to your life and work, that you are able to create a sustainable synergy between both so that you are fueled by them on a daily basis.
To do so, you must focus on the vital few and not let your career affect your personal life and vice versa.
We choose a certain career because our ever-changing needs and desires align with that particular career but not necessarily with the collective good.
In the leadership position, there is a huge discrepancy between hiring the right person with the right competencies for the job, between hiring someone with lesser competencies to feel unthreatened, between hiring someone to serve you and caress your ego.
There is also a difference between wanting the organization to succeed, wanting the team and the project to shine, and taking all the credit for someone else’s work.
Leadership style refers to the way that the leader interacts with his or her employees, influences their behavior, motivates them, make decisions for them and for the organization.
A specific leadership style can deeply influence the quality of work, the levels of commitment, the work satisfaction of both leader and employees.
We cannot control everything in our life.
However, we can control how we react to different situations, how we see ourselves and who we aspire to be.
Leaders must be able to anticipate problems and implement solutions for the future. What strategies do you apply? How do you handle bad news? How do you set boundaries? Do you encourage dissension?
There are several components to leadership. One of them is building and maintaining healthy relationships.
Leaders are responsible for the people they hire and the people that they lead. How do you build your team?
Cultural sensitivity is being aware that everyone is different.
It means being able to learn from different people, to understand their backgrounds, to collaborate and cooperate with them, without being judgmental.
Failures don’t directly lead to success but it can show you the way. It is best when your mistakes come to light rather than going unnoticed.
It is important to recall the time you have succeeded and demonstrated great leadership.
The memory of past success will serve you right when you face challenges. If you did it once, then you can do it again.
Mentorship is usually the realization of leadership.
It is similar to tutorship, to parenthood, to partnership, or to an alliance.
Delegating increases employee empowerment and talent engagement, leads to higher levels of commitment, innovation, motivation, and better relationships..
As a leader, your behavior in pressure moments impacts those around you and can predict their performance.
The ability to anticipate, to solve problems, to make quick and sound decisions will determine the success of a leader.
Effective communication skills will improve your leadership credibility, your self-confidence, your relationships with others, your feelings of belonging and will decrease your stress level.
Your communication skills will also drive change and increase team motivation.
Using those skills, leaders should be pushing a vision for their life, for their family or their organization and it shouldn’t matter whether they have the right relationships, enough money, enough favors, or have hired people with the desired skill set.
Leaders don’t have the luxury to procrastinate because it is similar to self-sabotage. However, they are all subject to it to some extent.
Being organized, methodical, pragmatic will help you gain a sense of satisfaction and will increase your chances of success.
It is critical to have a role model who will help you improve, achieve your goals and will show you your life purpose.
Your role model is authentic, relatable and can be a family member, a friend in your entourage or someone you barely know.
Change is a part of life, is a constant and is inevitable. Change shakes things up, disrupts old habits, breathes new life into the workplace and into any project.
Leaders must visibly act out the change, must be ready to do things differently and to think otherwise.
You can’t always find out what you like but life has a funny way of putting you in front of the things that you hate the most.
Accepting criticism implies that you are able to listen, accept people point of view and give feedback as well.
Hope that I’ve helped you get it together on your way to leadership!
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