Leaders Serve All

I have come to understand and appreciate truly effective leaders. There are seminars on leadership, leading teams; leading through change…the list goes on. What kills me is how freely the word “leader” or “leadership” is used to describe anyone but a leader. You have heard it; “the school’s leadership is looking into…” or “the project team leader is seeking to understand…” The problem is, they don’t lead, they politicize or worse yet, do nothing.  I do believe with commitment and having a great mentor, leaders can be developed. They are not born...they use their life expereinces to understand people and situations.

It is my opinion; a true leader does not desire nor seeks the recognition of being a leader. The best leaders I have had the pleasure to meet, know and work for were often times quiet and simply set a vision or direction and left the solution to the leader’s loyal team of experts to carry out the actions.  A leader uses kind words, words of encouragement, seek unity, negotiates, assures the necessary resources are available to achieve the vision, demonstrates  tolerance, understands the impacts of their decisions and connects with the people, customers and team.

Leaders simply get things done through example, respect for others and focusing on a vision.

Two of the best examples of highly effective leaders in my opinion are; Sir Ernest Shackleton (Feb 15, 1874 – Jan 5, 1922); the story of the Endurance and President Ronald Reagan (Feb 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) in bringing an end to the Cold War.

I would encourage anyone interested in leadership to read “Shackleton’s Way” by Margot Morrell, Stephanie Capparell and Alexandra Shackleton. The book provides some great insight into a highly effective leader who overcame the odds and saved his crew from an almost certain death.

Leaders serve in the interest of all.

Overcome fear, improve self confidence and achieve greatness!

I finally made it to the 21st century - my first blog! Fear holds us back all too often. Fear is the barrier to success and the anchor that holds many of us back from achieving greatness.

Here it is 2012 and finally.....a blog! I attribute my success in moving forward with the blog to Toastmasters. I joined Parker Toastmasters - http://www.parkertoastmasters.com/ - in August 2010 with the goal of improving my presentation and public speaking skills. What followed was not planned nor ever a goal.

I gave a number of speeches from the Competent Communicator manual. The first speech, the "Ice Breaker" I was absolutely terrified, the second speech I bombed BUT with the third and fourth speeches came success and the learning curve began an upward trend. By June of 2011, I was elected as the VP of Education for our club and started to encourage the new members to embrace the "Ice Breaker" and start their personal journey in achieving the goals they set for themselves.

Today, some of my personal successes I directly attribute to Toastmasters. My self-confidence has sky rocketed, my speaking skills sharpened and I now speak at events about charities I support and the important work they do. I have overcome the fear of publishing a blog and encouraged to share my thoughts through the great contributions of Toastmasters International and the local Parker Toastmasters club.