Shaping The Leader In You

“A good leader is the one who takes a little more than his share of the BLAME and a little less than the share of his CREDIT.”

These words quoted by John Maxwell are indeed a prerequisite for every individual aspiring to be a leader. The first question which comes to my mind when I speak about leadership, and perhaps yours too is, ‘HOW DOES ONE BECOME A LEADER?’The most common myth associated with this being, “Leaders are born!” Now, this is where I would say. ‘NO’. Every person has a leader in him/her and all that one has to do is recognize the leader. Just like every fire needs a spark to light up, every hidden leader needs a scintilla of motivation to transpire. We just need to sculpt our personality by adding or amending our behavioral aspects along with strengthening our cognitive sphere. Post this, the question that would haunt you and me alike would be, “HOW DO I RECOGNIZE THE LEADER IN ME?” Well, believe me, friends, recognizing a leader is all about identifying the qualities that define a leader. The first and the most important quality of a leader is ‘OWNING UP’. According to me, this refers to taking responsibility for your actions along with their consequences and feeling equally accountable for the success and the failure of the team. A wise person once quoted;

“If the Leader fails, the leader fails;

If the team fails, the leader fails;

But if the team succeeds, the team succeeds!”

The beauty of these words lies in the bitter-sweet truth that they convey. If one realizes this, he is bound to take a big leap on the path of success. The second most important quality of a leader is daring to take the ‘FIRST STEP’. The reason why I attributed the element of courage to this quality is that it takes immense bravery to be the first to volunteer. Following others is equally tedious, but initiating without knowing the obstacles that might cross one’s path takes a real strong will. With that, we come to another important quality of a leader: ‘PERSEVERANCE’. Dodging all obstacles in the way, finding opportunities in near hopeless situations, and drawing out the most rational inferences in the worst possible situations identifies a LEADER.

But this is not all! There are many more qualities that beautify a leader and I am sure that you will explore them soon. Fortunately, all of us have gotten a lot of time for ourselves! I urge all of you to utilize this time for SHAPING THE LEADER IN YOU!