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Leadership

If People Follow You - Then You are a Leader

I’ve been thinking a lot these days about what it takes to be a Leader. Do you need Charisma? Power? Intelligence? Good Looks? Is Leadership a quality that you are born with - or is it something that can be developed? And how do you know if you’re a Leader vs. a fool angling to be a Leader?

For years I have heard people say - “If People Follow You - Then You are a Leader”. And while I don’t disagree with that statement - I will say that I’ve seen an awful lot of people follow the wrong folks for all the wrong reasons. Of course - this has more to do with the distinction of being a Toxic Leader vs. being a Remarkable Leader. So let’s break this down:

Toxic Leaders:

  • May Be Visionary or Charismatic
  • Often Push Their Own Agendas - and are Motivated by their Own Self-Interests
  • Understand How to Play Office Politics - and Win
  • Are Often Unethical or Amoral
  • Can be extremely persuasive

Remarkable Leaders:

  • Have the Ability to Hold Crucial Conversations without wounding Egos
  • Have the power of Influence - but balance it with the power of Vision
  • Are Candid, Authentic, Open, & Transparent
  • Understand the Big Picture - and can put their cause before themselves
  • Live in Integrity - choosing to do what is RIGHT over what is EASY
  • Understand the incredible power of Transformation as it applies to their followers

Discussion

3 comments for “If People Follow You - Then You are a Leader”

  1. Great to see some content on PeanutButterMedia!

    This blog post reminds me of Servant Leadership
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership

    Good stuff.

    Posted by Ed Schipul | October 15, 2007, 12:38 pm
  2. @Ed - it’s funny that you were the first person to comment on this article because you were the person I was thinking of when I wrote out the qualities of a Remarkable Leader.

    Posted by Erica | October 15, 2007, 9:38 pm
  3. […] …Blogged about at If People Follow You - Then You are a Leader - peanut butter media, […]

    Posted by Connecting News, Commentaries and Blogs at NineReports.com - | October 19, 2007, 7:13 am

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