There is a buzz in the world, on the local grass roots level, to find, to get, to be better at leadership. But wouldn’t it be an idea, a good idea, to first realize, formulate, get a better philosophy of what leadership really is, can be and should be?
“Leadership is vision, all else is commentary.” Leaders see what can be and are absolutely positive and willing to create that into reality. Leaders make things happen. Leaders create something from thin air, something from nothing, something from just an idea; they find a way to make that idea show up in reality without excuse, reasons, justifications and alibis.
Leaders inspire; they find ways to get teams of people all going in the same direction to fulfill a prophesy, to lay down tracks to a prescribed destiny. Leaders are those who believed like Theodore Roosevelt:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Leaders welcome defeat and failure as imposters on the road to success. Leaders put in the consistent effort, are daring, are willing to go for it all, to fail, and put the word “temporary” in front of the word failure, over and over, until success is completely realized.
Leaders are readers, they inquire, are curious are always looking for a better way, a faster way, a straighter trajectory, are in constant pursuit for more, more refined ideas, better ways to do things, more insights, more innovation, invention, new creations that can change what is, “the that’s-just-the-way-it-is-status-quo” into that vision of what one can see in the future. “Leaders see the invisible”. Or as Jonathan Swift put it, “Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” He wrote this, 444 years ago.
And you too are a leader of your family, of your town, your community, your business, your staff, but most importantly, and this could be the absolute key to leadership: You are the leader of you—lead your own ship.
And the better you get at you, being you, using every ounce of reserve energy for “vision-eering,” of putting plans into motion and following through to 100% completion, not 50%, not 92%, but 100% so that vision shows up in reality (done deal), then you are a practicing, bonafide and validated leader of yourself, a powerhouse, a powerful you, a divine brilliance, striving for peak states of manifesting, a doer of deeds, an inspirationalist and transcendalist for those who may have lost their ways.
Leaders are never late. Be a punctual leader. Be the person who has a reputation of getting things done. Your greatest “ability” could be “depend-ability,” according to Brian Tracy.
Be who you were born to be: An adventurer, an explorer, a creator of ideas, a pusher of worthy ideals, someone committed to leaving their mark, to be remembered by more than a single generation, someone who can add to and give back and change the prevailing mediocre acceptance.
Be willing and not afraid to venture out. Try new things. Tack in the wind. Track and measure. Stay in constant states of wonder. Hunger for more but to be incredibly satiated with the mystery of what is, so you can take it all to the bank: Use no excuses. Make it happen. Get results. Get results. Get results. And never, never, never give up.
For leaders are followed by their own trail of sheer determination of will as they paint a vision of what they can see so clearly, so it is real before it is real, so that others can see it already happening, so others can see to the next level, the next stage, to the edge of the ensuing horizon, the final sunset where it explodes into magnificent revelations, wonder, and so that worthy ideal becomes the reality envisioned.
Be a leader and leave a legacy. Do it now. Start today. You have a mission inside of you, a passion for a dream that can be 100% completed as soon as you believe. “Leaders imagine what seems impossible.”
Voyage upon life’s sea, To yourself be true, And, whatever your lot may be, Paddle your own canoe.”–Sarah Bolton, circa 1780’s.