Definition of Leadership
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What are leadership skills?Why must a person be equipped with the right leadership skills?Leadership skills are like the tools of the trade of leadership(refer to section on leadership skills) and they are useful for multiplying your efforts in whatever you’re doing.
For example, A dancer must have psycho-motor skills. She must know how to coordinate her body movements seamlessly and perfectly according to the beat of the music.
An architect who designs the blueprint for houses must first have drawing skills. He must know how to draw blueprints to exact measurements of the ruler.
Similarly, a leader has to possess certain skill sets to be an effective leader. They are skills like:
• public speaking,
• goal setting,
• time management and
• listening skills.
All these skills are important and they need years and years of practice and refinement for you to get better and better.
Compare someone is able to speak extremely well; an inspirational speaker, compared to someone to stutters in speech; he’s a nervous wreck.
I’m sure you have seen different kinds of speakers yourself before; those that inspire you and those that simply bore you to death.
Now who’s able to instill courage and motivation into their followers? No doubt, he is someone with extremely good speaking skills. He instinctively knows what makes people tick and he knows exactly when to say certain things.
Now that’s powerful.
But it’s almost always a result of years and years of practice, training, heart-felt experience that gives a speaker that kind of skill.
Character And
Skill Distinguished
Now, leadership skills and character are two entirely different things, but both of them are extremely important for an effective leader. Character is the foundation of the leader: His values, beliefs and the things he stands for; all these form the inner core of the leader.
What you would call: substance.
Leadership skills are like what I mentioned above, things like public speaking skills, listening skills, goal setting skills and so on. Skills are the tools of a leader, but they speak nothing of his character.
They are what you would call: form.
Now the world before 2008 treasured leadership who had form. Leaders who had the package. Charismatic, good looking leaders who could speak well and were attractive.
But more and more today, especially after the recent Wall Street Meltdown of 2008, people are seeing the need of true authentic leaders who don’t just have the skills, but also more important things like integrity. People are beginning to see the importance of authentic leadership.
I remember a famous saying, “it is talent that brings you to the top, but it is character that keeps you there.”
How true.
The failure of corporations and organizations were almost never a failure of technical competence; they were almost always a failure of character. A lack of integrity. A lack of accountability.
Development
at Both Levels
The development of a leader must not just be on form, but on substance as well. Leadership must happen in your life in every level.
Leadership With You wants to develop you today in every aspect of the leadership journey: Both in your substance(character) and form(skills).
Because that’s what the world needs today.
That’s what your family needs today.
That's what your company needs today.
An effective leader who doesn’t just possess the skills to do a good job, but the character to protect his flock, the courage to stand up for what he believes in, and integrity to uphold the truth.
Join us in the leadership journey, find out more about what are leadership skills ,be developed to become a better leader, and not just a better leader, but a better person.
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