Being a leader requires some hard and soft skills that often seem too daunting to master. But, philosophically speaking, you can boil down your journey into leadership into a few basic practices: asking, seeking, and knocking. Let’s take a look at what those are and how they apply to your growth into becoming a leader.
Asking The Right Questions
In many leadership books and seminars, you’re made to feel as if you must have all the answers to be a great leader. This simply isn’t true. Leaders start just like everyone else. Sure, there may be some inherent gifts or advantages that some of us have that others do not but that isn’t the case for many of the world’s best leaders. Neither now, nor historically.
The best leaders know, from early on, that asking the right questions is the pathway to true understanding and mastery. Asking the right questions is significant because many of us get sidetracked in our development because we’re simply asking the wrong questions.
If you’re an aspiring leader, learn to focus on the best questions to ask at every step of your journey. The best education begins with the student, focused on the real issues and not the ongoing peripheral noise surrounding the problems.
Being able to differentiate between what the right questions are from the wrong ones gives you a leg up in any career. Also, asking questions is a sign of curiosity which happens to be a classic trait in many great leaders and thinkers.
Seek Out The Best People
One of the secrets of great leaders is that they know it’s highly important to surround themselves with competent, hard-working people. If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re not in the right room, as the saying goes. Some people disagree with this notion, but you’ll go much further if you’ve got incredibly wise people in your circle.
It’s a trait many managers and leaders lack. One bad hire can drag the business down significantly. A department of bad hires can do even more damage to the growth of your business. But by being humble and willing to surround yourself with others of high potential and success, you are elevating the chances of growth, both personally and professionally.
This doesn’t mean that you suddenly bring nothing to the table. However, you should be adept at leading a great team to success. In sports, without great coaches, you often can’t win a title even if you have the most talent. It takes a great leader to unify a great team. Acquire the talent, and lead them to the best version of themselves.
Knocking On Doors Of Opportunity
Leaders do not hesitate to say yes to opportunities more than they say no. Living in fear of the risks does not teach you anything except how to miss out on future success. You must give yourself and your business chances to rise to challenges and exceed expectations.
Saying yes to opportunity does not guarantee success, however. But if you’re observant, wise, and resilient, you will learn from your failures, too. Leaders that say yes are more often to get opportunities that other leaders miss out on. You will learn how to say yes to the best things this way. So don’t be afraid of jumping into a challenge. You’ll surprise yourself more often than not.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
