What Are You Giving Others Permission To Do?
The way in which you talk about conditions subtly gives others permission to talk the same way.
When you complain about something, you are permitting others to complain as well. Leaders must hold themselves to a higher standard even more so than the standards others place on them. And to do this, you have to lead yourself first. I have found that the hardest person I have ever had to lead is no one but myself. I am my toughest follower and toughest critic. Someone once stated, “If I could kick the person responsible for all my troubles, I wouldn’t be able to sit down for a week.”
If we are not leading ourselves well, we cannot lead others well. You can’t lead the masses if you can’t lead yourself. If we are having trouble motivating ourselves, we will have an extremely hard time motivating others. The key to being a hope-dealer is to make sure you, as the leader, are hope-full in all you do. Great leaders push themselves further than anyone else. They are internally driven. Walt Disney said, “Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well that when people see you do it, they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will want to bring others and show them how well you do what you do.”
Lead by example by modeling the behavior you desire to see. Ask yourself these questions:
- Would you follow yourself?
- Would your example motivate you?
- Would you be filled with hope if you were following yourself?
- Would you be better off if you led yourself the way you are leading others?
If the answer is yes, then you are leading by example. If you answered no, then you need to start challenging yourself to get out there and become the leader you need to be.
“I serve with honor on and off the battlefield…I lead by example in all situations.” ~ Navy SEAL Creed
Leadership is not about telling others what to do, it is about showing others what to do by modeling the behavior you want to see.
* Taken from my book…The Hope Giving Leader: How To Lead Others Through Tough Times, available on Amazon Prime for just $8.95 here.
