Leadership

Now that we have covered the 7 habits of highly successful people, I want to focus on our taking those habits and gaining success both spiritually, personally and professionally as a corporation. Success is within each of us and therefore within the reach of each of us individually and collectively. Personal success requires the other twin tower, which is leadership! Success without leadership only brings limited effectiveness. A person’s impact is only a fraction of what it could be with good leadership.

Leadership is also not related to the position you hold in a company, in your family or in your own life. Martin Luther King said, we can all be leaders because we can all serve. True leaders understand the concept of willful and voluntary service.

Someone I know used to work as a secretary in a law firm. As the secretary her duties included getting coffee for her boss, answering his phones, sorting his correspondence and keeping his calendar. One day her boss was having a meeting and asked that she wipe down the chalk board. She was not happy that she was asked and instead of wiping down the chalk board fully she only wiped down that portion of the board she could reach.

She was never asked to wipe the chalk board again, but who won the “contest”? In this situation the “second mile” would have been to wipe the entire board because at the point you are walking the second mile you are in control and the one imposing the task on you. All of us can demonstrate leadership in our specific roles. Leadership will take place when we can learn the lesson of servitude with gladness in our hearts.

Look at our economy and the economy of other countries. Those countries in which each person is invested in the success of the country, like China and India, are winning because they are all working with one common purpose. Think of how great our organization would be if none of us cared who got the credit or the BLAME!