Leadership (What Does It Mean To Be A Leader)?

The thing that distinguishes a Leader from a Follower is really a very fine line. Most people believe the amount of money one has in the bank would be a mark of a Leader. Some would venture that a Leader can be distinguished by how many friends or the quality of ones friends would determine a Leader. There are even those that would suppose their Boss because he barks orders and people jump that he would be a Leader! But a Leader this does not Make!!

True Leadership comes from the Heart! Now, what I’m talking about is Love! A very special kind of love. The Apostle Paul talked about this in his Love Letter to the Corinthian Church (1 Cor. 13). So as not to be accused of being too religious I will attempt to say it differently, though.

It seems some people think it isn’t fitting for a man to use this term Love. But when you understand the true meaning of the universal terminology of Love and that is caring very deeply about something, someone, or a thing it is ok. For instance to work for your success and the success of others is most noble a thing. A Leader Helps Other People While Helping Himself!

I must apologize for the Southern Baptist Preacher in me. But in the Bible when you find the qualifications for Leaders they weren’t Bosses they were Examples of what we should be! You see when a Leader becomes a Leader he only becomes a glorified Follower! “Until you and I learn how to follow we can never be a Leader”! Wow! Now That Is Heavy!

Of course, When you follow someone else you have to be careful. When the blind (followers) follow the blind (someone who claims to be a Leader and they are not) both fall into a ditch. Pick who you are going to follow very, very carefully. I did! I searched long and hard for my Sponsor and I found what I was looking for in my sponsor. I had to find the right Sponsor! As a result my success in this business is paying Huge Dividends - Huge!   

Doesn’t it say somewhere to “take heed to wise counsel?” We all must learn to Listen, Learn, and Follow. Yes, it is vitally important to heed the good advice of others. But something more important is for us to heed to that inner voice inside all of us. To tap into our Higher Power! Deep down inside of all of us we know what we ought to do! But we just can’t seem to pull ourselves to do it! Until we learn to listen, learn, and follow we will continue to get the same results we have always gotten. “To change what is on the outside we first have to change what is on the inside.”  Once we learn to do this No one can stop our success!

You can learn to change by reading and listening to motivational books and tapes (ok CD’s). Also, associate with positive people. I recommend joining the optimist club there you will have associations with people that have the positive mind-set. You Will Find As A General Rule the Leaders in Your Community Are Full Members of the Optimist Club!

Now this brings me to another very important thought. There is a danger in listening too, too many outside sources. What I want to say here is, most of the friends that we would counsel with usually don’t have the knowledge on a subject (haven’t really checked a thing out) but we have a tenacity to want to listen to them anyway and we miss out on “making it this time.”  Friends are great, but we need to counsel with people that have been there done that (experience)! If you want to be a brick-layer do you ask a lawyer how you lay brick? Absolutely Not! To Build A Network Marketing Business Go To A Network Marketer!

It is very important that you and I Lead by example. If we want others to do something they need to know we are doing it! Don’t tell someone else to do something you aren’t or won’t do yourself. Be a Trend Setter! Follow your mentors and teach those who follow you to do the same (follow you as their mentor). Here is another quote from someplace, “Be a Doer of the Word, and Not a Hearer Only!” It is one thing to tell someone what to do and still another thing to do it. Here is a new word for you Exampler (Not Sampler). What Is A Leader? He is the person that Leads by Example (Doer). Now Let Us “Do Unto Others What We Would Have Them Do Unto Us!”

One final thought – First you must learn to follow those who have gone before in any given endeavor. Second you must learn to lead by being an example of what to do and what not to do. It is just as important to learn from mistakes as things done right - perhaps more important to learn from ones or others mistakes.  True Leadership! 

Copyright 2006 HM

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