Leader in You

Project #5: Your Body Speaks

Manual: Competent Communicator (CC)

May 04, 2007

Good evening fellow TMs and Guests. If you are asked to think about your childhood, what could you recollect? If you watch activities of children, what could you infer? - Curious and humble, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge, with an incredibly vivid imagination. As children we were natural leaders - we knew exactly what we wanted, were persistent and determined in getting what we wanted and had the ability to inspire, influence, and motivate others to accomplish our mission. So why is this so difficult to do as adults? What happened? We have been deprogrammed along the way.

This speech offers five easy steps to awaken the leader in you and rekindle the passion of greatness. These steps are based on Sharif Khan’s research in human development and leadership area for over 10 years.

First, Leadership starts with humility. To be a highly successful leader, you must first humble yourself like a little child and be willing to serve others. Nobody wants to follow someone who is arrogant. Whom do you want to follow: Hitler or Gandhiji? When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you will be a far more effective listener, which is the #1 leadership communication tool. When people sense you are genuinely interested in them, and listening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what you have to say.

Second, Follow Your Bliss. Regardless of how busy you are, always take time to do what you love doing. When you are pursuing your passions, people around you cannot help but feel impassioned by your presence. This will make you a charismatic leader. Whatever it is that you enjoy doing, be it writing, acting, painting, drawing, photography, reading, dancing, set aside time every week, to pursue these activities. Believe me, you’ll find the time. If you were to video tape yourself for a day, you would be shocked to see how much time goes to waste!

Third, Honor Your Word. This is my favorite one. Every time you break your word, you lose power. Successful leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life. How many times have you said you’re going to exercise or eat better and not followed through? We’ve all fallen into the trap of saying we’re going to do something and then finding every possible excuse not to do it. Have you noticed that the next time you make a similar promise to yourself it’s tainted with doubt? You don’t completely trust that you’re going to do what you say. Honoring word pays huge dividends in everyone's life. Your word is gold. Honor it.

Next, Be Yourself. Read about great leaders and use your research on great leaders as models or reference points to work from, but never copy or imitate them like a parrot. Everyone has vastly different leadership styles. History books are filled with leaders who are soft-spoken, introverted, and quiet, all the way to the other extreme of being outspoken, extroverted, and loud, and everything in between. A quiet and simple Gandhi or a soft-spoken peanut farmer named Jimmy Carter, who became president of the United States and won a Nobel Peace Prize, have been just as effective world leaders as a loud and flamboyant Churchill, or the tough leadership style employed by The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher. Be yourself, your best self, always competing against yourself and bettering yourself, and you will become a first rate version of YOUSELF instead of a second rate version of somebody else.

Finally, be a giver. Leaders are givers. By giving, you activate a universal law as sound as gravity: life gives to the giver, and takes from the taker. The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect, support, and compassion, give love, give respect, give support, and give compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a leader, the only way to get what you want is by helping enough people get what they want first. I would like to repeat Sir Winston Churchill’s words here: “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”

In sum, developing the Leader in you requires a process of unlearning by self-remembering and self-honoring. Being an effective leader again will require you to be brave and unlock the door to your inner attic, where your childhood dreams lie. Remember!!! Be humble, follow your bliss, be yourself, be a giver, and honor your word always.