The Habit of Embracing Leadership and Taking Initiative
Too many leaders wander around waiting for someone–anyone– to tell them what they need to do. But the most successful people take initiative and figure it out for themselves.
Overcome fear and inactivity and make a change today with this blog post about the benefits of being proactive, about how to manage your time better, and about how you can begin demonstrating more leadership qualities in your life.
The Habit of Embracing Leadership and Taking Initiative
The best way to be a good leader is absolutely not to wait around for someone else.
Too many leaders wander around waiting for someone–anyone–to tell them what they need to do. But the most successful people take initiative and figure it out for themselves.
You see, there are many ways to be a good leader: You can be a micro-manager, you can be an autocrat, or you can be a coach. I am not talking about being "one of those managers," but about taking the responsibility to lead yourself. In fact, when I'm coaching clients on leadership skills, one of my favorite questions is "What are you going to do to get stronger/softer/more adaptable as a leader?" The answer is always some combination of (1) managing your time better and (2) embracing leadership tasks that you might not necessarily have wanted but now must fulfill anyway.
And so it is: Self-leadership begins with clarifying your goals and ambitions and making them known to others. Once you have done that, you will be embraced as a leader even if you're afraid of being disliked or criticized. I tell my clients, "If you do a good job, the people who like your work will be happy for you; if they don't like it, they won't say anything at all." And I tell them to turn off their Twitter feed because it's never going to be 100% positive just as your work will never be 100% perfect–and why waste time on anything less than perfection? The best leaders use that energy instead to make better decisions and get better results.
Once you embrace self-leadership, you will also be able to make better use of your time. I can't tell you how many times a client is frustrated because they have made a commitment to do something and then don't have the time or energy to keep it. Well, the good news is that if you don't have the desire (or permission) to be a leader, you really shouldn't be doing it in the first place. And so leaders who truly want and need to be good at something will work even harder when they're working on themselves as well as their other responsibilities. They know their personal strengths and weaknesses and what they could make better (or do less) with just a little more focus.
And so it is: Self-leadership begins with clarifying your goals and ambitions and making them known to others. Once you have done that, you will be embraced as a leader even if you're afraid of being disliked or criticized. I tell my clients, "If you do a good job, the people who like your work will be happy for you; if they don't like it, they won't say anything at all." And I tell them to turn off their Twitter feed because it's never going to be 100% positive just as your work will never be 100% perfect–and why waste time on anything less than perfection? The best leaders use that energy instead to make better decisions and get better results.
Once you embrace self-leadership, you will also be able to make better use of your time. I can't tell you how many times a client is frustrated because they have made a commitment to do something and then don't have the time or energy to keep it. Well, the good news is that if you don't have the desire (or permission) to be a leader, you really shouldn't be doing it in the first place. And so leaders who truly want and need to be good at something will work even harder when they're working on themselves as well as their other responsibilities. They know their personal strengths and weaknesses and what they could make better (or do less) with just a little more focus.
And so it is: Self-leadership begins with clarifying your goals and ambitions and making them known to others. Once you have done that, you will be embraced as a leader even if you're afraid of being disliked or criticized. I tell my clients, "If you do a good job, the people who like your work will be happy for you; if they don't like it, they won't say anything at all." And I tell them to turn off their Twitter feed because it's never going to be 100% positive just as your work will never be 100% perfect–and why waste time on anything less than perfection? The best leaders use that energy instead to make better decisions and get better results.
Once you embrace self-leadership, you will also be able to make better use of your time. I can't tell you how many times a client is frustrated because they have made a commitment to do something and then don't have the time or energy to keep it. Well, the good news is that if you don't have the desire (or permission) to be a leader, you really shouldn't be doing it in the first place. And so leaders who truly want and need to be good at something will work even harder when they're working on themselves as well as their other responsibilities. They know their personal strengths and weaknesses and what they could make better (or do less) with just a little more focus.
And so it is: Self-leadership begins with clarifying your goals and ambitions and making them known to others. Once you have done that, you will be embraced as a leader even if you're afraid of being disliked or criticized. I tell my clients, "If you do a good job, the people who like your work will be happy for you; if they don't like it, they won't say anything at all." And I tell them to turn off their Twitter feed because it's never going to be 100% positive just as your work will never be 100% perfect–and why waste time on anything less than perfection? The best leaders use that energy instead to make better decisions and get better results.
This is something you can't control, but if you really need a great example, look no further than 2016 presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. Fiorina was widely respected and admired in business circles for her ability to cut through the noise and get to the heart of a problem. After being passed over for two CEO jobs at HP because of her gender, she decided to run for office instead of accepting those jobs–and that's when she truly became a favorite in business circles. She wasn't allowed to get very far in the race as Republicans rejected her as their nominee because she practiced what they called "political correctness" by not denouncing Planned Parenthood (No exceptions.
Conclusion:
This is something you can't control, but if you really need a great example, look no further than 2016 presidential candidate and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina. Fiorina was widely respected and admired in business circles for her ability to cut through the noise and get to the heart of a problem. After being passed over for two CEO jobs at HP because of her gender, she decided to run for office instead of accepting those jobs–and that's when she truly became a favorite in business circles. She wasn't allowed to get very far in the race as Republicans rejected her as their nominee because she practiced what they called "political correctness" by not denouncing Planned Parenthood (No exceptions.