The Wonder and Thunder of Refulgent Leadership!

I believe all of us at one time or another have been pachyderms. Sensitive to our raw feelings and emotions, improvising our defensive response and reactions unnaturally, unhappily. Frankly, we should be appreciative for those “leaders” past who ridiculed us, those who caprice our early brave resolve: for those who unwittingly made us sharper, thicker skinned, strengthened our personal mettle and reversed our defense.

The best of us reengineer solicitously against the din of poor leadership evolving into “can do, will do, done” offense mode. World class leaders are defined, measured and graded through their protractions, their actions, their reactions, their contractions and their natural, formidable magnetic attraction. Superior, proven and trusted leadership is also powered by kinetic, highly relevant learning’s and improvisations based upon experience, based upon crisp critical thinking, business judgment and sales motivation.  

If you polarize a supply chain array of disciplined and focused leadership under the ribs of clear strategy, tactics and courses of action, you will reveal and can juxtapose the substrate of their business DNA; the fabric of their commitment, the speed and agility of their capabilities. Leaderships polarized commitment and capability chain-links measure, metric and medium whether the leader is:

de-active – inactive – reactive – active – pro-active – hyper-active – super active

In each case and or as aggregated as one, the ability to steer and  merit success, to act offensively regarding opportunities is as important as digging in defensively regarding threats in competitive share, changing market conditions. Great leaders are created, not born. Superb leaders, highly effective leaders, self-develop, self-medicate with knowledge to docent themselves through a never ending thread of self-regulated study, relevant education, training and applied experiences. It is the Wonder of superior leadership that augers and creates the Thunder of orchestrated victories.

Having said this, we attempt to gain consensus by defining leadership as: the ability to influence, stimulate and energize others to focus on and accomplish a greater goal. Highly effective leaders story, plan, influence, energize and upgrade the common goal, into the demanded dream of one team. The lucent report card of leadership is best graded by the caliber and business judgment of followers, by the ability and measured results of said greater goal. While the influence of intelligent leadership is best fueled by moral and royal values, trust worthiness, ethics, character and the spirit of generosity, it is the smart knowledge of leadership that grounds united logic for the team, commonplaces clear determination to achieve or exceed the goal.

Mature leadership offers three additional important and unique magnetic characteristics versus standard management or simple authority: motivation, communication, inspiration. Best of breed leadership aggregates and motivates trust, confidence and the demand engine for Spartan followers to become the same or to aspire to a heightened notch above greatness when learned, when earned. Please see my keynote video on the power and influence of Digital Darwinism leadership here:

leadership

For those who personally demand to become a leader, I suggest you follow this business benediction I have professed for two decades: “If you want to be the leader, act like the leader.” Just make sure you are learning from and following the right leader, to act like the leader you wish to someday become.

Of course management and leadership vary greatly. Think of management as the position of an assigned boss designated to deliver results while leadership is the role designed to focus on and achieve the highest possible goals, together. Think of leadership in the language of honorable business and moral character coupled with selfless service and support for the organization, for the team. Think of leadership responsibility as a guiding light, respected and warranted by followers who demand a greater sense of purpose and direction, who wish to learn and competitively achieve higher ground.

Team members want to respect, hold and duplicate fond and refulgent leadership. To perhaps one day earn the right to become the leader; they themselves. To ensure we fulfill our responsibilities to teach, train, inspire and build future global leaders I offer 11 Gen One Ventures leadership guiding principles to build, mature and orchestrate an army of highly effective business leaders for today and tomorrow:  

1. Deliver trust, offer confidence and commanding capabilities for your team members.

2. Preach, teach and unleash your overall business strategy to your team.

3. Openly and consistently reveal fiduciary progress or lack of achievement with respect to targeted goals individually and companywide.

4. Help each employee define and road map how they can personally contribute to the goals from both a pecuniary standpoint and with respect to team engagements.

5. Communicate often and always across all viable channels.

6. Reveal, promulgate and portend a competitive, fun cultural spirit of determination.

7. Be actionable, be measurable, be accessible, not just professorial.

8. Know your team members history; help plan the dream of their future.

9. Through your personal leadership always unleash capacity, never punish productivity.

10. Learn and earn to deliver: share the dignity of knowledge with your team, the spoils of financial success with your entire organization.

11. Focus leadership on your customers and they in turn will focus profitable, long term leadership on you.

Champion leadership inspires team greatness. Challenges the process, challenges the strategy, challenges the team to inspire victorious results. Great leadership utilizes superior business judgment, critical thinking and team motivation to steer around competitive business remoras, competitive advantage. Inspire others, enable others, model others, energize the hearts of others and encourage others to become the leaders they pine to be, to continue their demanding role on the offense, to deny the bulwark distracters they met and feared so many years ago on the defensive side of leadership. And of course, unleash your competitively aggressive business and market offense by unleashing your highly trained and aspiring leadership team members.

The Wonder and Thunder of Leadership. Go ahead and create some, make some or get some… or be kind and just get out of a Champions way! 

Peter Weedfald is the author of  Green Reign Leadership a book designed to enhance leadership results: http://t.co/FO6QP6IWHj