Leadership is influence

It's a simple,straight forward, one word description that places leadership within everyone's reach.All of us can exercise

a certain degree of influence on someone,at some point,in some places.Leadership isn't about tiles,positions, or flowcharts.

It's about one life influencing another.

The first lesson we must each learn is that broad leadership is built from deep character.An infrastructure of great charcter

is essential to support great conduct.The trust and involvement of our followers will be parallel to the level of our own

character.

Leaders must be close enough to relate to others, but far enough ahead to motivate them.

It beautifully combines the necessity of both relationship and vision.I must live with the people to understand them and earn

their trust.However,I am only their "buddy" if that's all I do.To be a leader, I must be ahead of them.

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.

Most of us learn the hard way that leadership is not merely having a vision.Anyone can dream.Effective leadership is

knowing how to lay down the action steps for yourself and the orgainzation so that the vision can be realized.This requires

us to be practical and to understand the process along the way.

A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes,smart enough to profit from them,and strong enough to correct them.

One of the least talked about prerequisites for leadership is a strong sense of personal security.Without it, I sabotage myself

and my organization.With it, I can handle mistakes with I don't know the key to success,but the key to failure is trying

to please everybody.

One of the weaknesses of many of today's leaders is our compulsion to take surveys.Leadership sometimes means doing

what's unpopular.

You are the same today that you are going to be five years from now except for four things:the people with whom you

associate and the books you read,the training you attend,and the options or decisions you make.

If we plan to become great,we must determine to expose ourselves to great books and great people.Their input will influence our growth more than anything else.Choose both wisely.

No matter what size the bottle,the cream always come to the top.

People are somewhat like fresh milk from a cow.At first glance it all looks the same.But eventually the cream rises to the top.Similarly you'll find that given time,the "movers and shakers" naturally rise to the top.Simply watch and wait.

A ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what ships were built for.

Safety, security, and survival are not meaningful goals for our lives.If we're going to get anywhere, we're going to have

to risk venturing into the unknown.Life if about adventure,not maintenance.

You can have brilliant ideas, but if you can't get them across,your ideas won't get you anywhere.

Ideas alone can't harness a group of people.We can only move to accomplish a goal when the vision is cast clearly,

creatively,and consistently.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

Everything rises and falls on leadership.Once a leader has been directing an organization for years the personality,

atmosphere and problems of that orzanization are a result of his leadership.When you see him, you see the organization.

Failure is the opportunity to begin again,more intelligently.

Luck is the residue of design.

Very few outcomes in this cause and effect world are due to chance.Good luck is what happens when opportunity meets

preparation.

Don't spend a $ 1.00's worth of time on a $.10 decision.

Invest the appropriate amount of time and mental energy into every decision you make.Visualize a scale on one side is

the weight of how much the decision will cost.On the other,how much it will benefit. Balance each decision's potential

benefit with its actual cost.

Poise comes through maturity.When we get it ,and can keep it under pressure,we will have a decided advantage over

others.Panicking usually has a negative effect on a situation,but remaining calm and cool enables us to think and act

more intelligently.Make it your ambition to never panic.

The moment you stop learning,you stop leading.

Leaders are learners.Once a person feels they have a firm grasp on all the answers,they have quit being teachable and

will soon cease from leading.Their thoughts and methods will become dated,and eventually stale.Good leaders are hungry for learning,all the way to the grave.

A person who is successfully has simply formed the habit of doing things that unsuccessful people will not do.

Whatever business field you may have chosen,success will follow you if you will consistently do the things and provide

the services that others refuse to do and fail to provide.This makes for outstanding leadership and creates a demand

for you and what you do.

You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do.

Our reputation is obviously constructed from our track record, not our intentions.Success is about what we've planned.

If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.

The level of Olympic competition at the turn of the twentieth century are now the levels at which junior high school

students compete.Why is that? During the last one-hundred years,athletes have invariably discovered new ways to run

faster,jump higher,and throw farther.Success, therefore,has meant not merely doing what previous champions have

done but pioneering new methods.

You cannot push anyone up the ladder unless he is willing to climb a little.

No one can succeed for you.Success isn't a gift to be given away.

The surest way to establish a sense of ownership among your constituency is to involve them in the creative process all

among the way.You might be able to reach a goal faster on your own,but when you get there you will be just that- on your

own.Slow down,and take your people along .We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act ,but a habit.

Eagles don't flock--you have to find them once at a time.

You problably noticed this too.Unlike most birds, eagles don't fly in flocks.They don't simply fit in .They don't conform to

the activities of their own kind.You cannot find them in huge clusters.They are flying alone,ahead of and higher than the

other birds.Leaders are like eagles.A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.

This little word picture is pregnant with meaning.If a man wants to lead the orchestra, he must first make a solitary

decision.He cannot drift along with the crowd,nor can he pay attention to the crowd's response to his leading.He must

remain focused ,and be willing to stand alone.He must give himself to the few who are cooperating with him ,not the

masses who are looking on.Finally ,even if he yearns for the crowd's applause,that cannot be his goal.His goal must be

to lead his orchestra with excellence.The applause is a by-product.

It's OK to lend a helping hand-- the challenge is getting people to let go of it.

When something is freely offered for long enough, it is human nature to become dependent upon it.

People get comfortable with the helping hand, and soon believe they can't live without it. Good leadership empowers

people by providing the resources they need to get started,but the goal is to teach them how to be resourceful themselves.

I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours,will take care of themselves.

An important question for leaders:"Am I building people, or building my dream and using people to do it?"

Learn to say no to the good so you can say yes to the best.

Nearly 90% of how people learn is visual.It's what they see: Another 9% of our learning is verbal,or what we hear.About

1% is through our other senses.This alone explains why effective leadership is more caught than taught.People need to see a sermon,more than hear it, to really embrance it. A leader's credibility and his right to be followed are based on his

life,as much as his lip.

The most pathetic person in the world is someone who has sight but has no vision.

What could be worse than being born without any sight?Vision is non-negotiable for anyone who wants to succeed.It is the

blueprint on the inside of a leader,before he ever sees the plan on the outside.

If a man knows not what harbor he seeks, any wind is the right wind.

This quote from Seneca is indicative of how so many people live in their life.Not knowing what longterm direction they are headed for ,they bounce around like a ball in a pinball machine.They live reactive lives based on what happens to

them rather than pro-active lives based on what values are in them.They live their life "by accident" rather than " on

purpose"

Today a reader- tomorrow a leader.

The essence of leadership is a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion.You can't blow an uncertain

trumpet.

It's not something we can pick up from a weekend conference.We must commit our lives to it.

The test of leadership : Turn around and see if anyone is following you.

This is the acid test of leadership.If you want to evaluate your own leadership ,look at the people following you.Is anyone

following?What kind of people do you attract? Does your vision compel people to follow?Are they committed to the vision?This is a simple series of questions every leader should ask himself.

Sometimes when we experience growth in our orgainzation ,we forget that our role as a leader must evolve too.The larger

our organization grows, the less we can do by ourselves.We must commit ourselves to the task of oversight,or we will be

overworked.While we must always model work,our chief task is empowering others to work.

If I choose to pay the price for my dreams now, I'll enjoy the rewards of those dreams later.However,if I choose to play

now,I may not have the opportunity for reward later.I'll be too busy paying the price.Failure to prepare is preparing

to fail.

Some people change jobs,mates,and friends,but never think of changing themselves.

We live in a generation consumed with changing exteriors.We've bought into the notion that if we just can change the

people ,circumstances,and environment around us,we can solve our problems.Most of the time,however,the issue lies