One of the most commonly held Management Fallacies: You need to be an Executive Director, CEO, COO, CFO, Vice President, Manager to be a Leader.
WRONG!!!
It is totally, the other way round: To be a successful and great Executive Director, CEO, COO, CFO, Vice President, Manager, or Supervisor – YOU NEED TO BE A LEADER FIRST and the rest will fall in place. Designations do not make Leaders. In other words, a Manager may not be a Leader but, a Leader can be anything – Manager, Supervisor, or Officer.
In order to get to the bottom of Leadership, it is imperative to understand the difference between Leadership and Management. The areas of differentiation will throw light on the importance of both Leadership and Management. To make “Leadership A Choice” does not mean, we need to abandon the virtues of Management. In a simple analogy, “why and what” decisions need Leadership Skills and “how and when” require the attention of Management.
To make the understanding of the concept of Leadership easier, it is important to relate to examples at the Personal / Social Level. After experiencing the journey at the Personal / Social Level, it is now easy to translate the understanding to Corporate Level. For any Leader to pass the “Test”, there are two simple but forceful questions to be answered. Do you know them? In one minute, you can judge, whether a person possesses Leadership Substance or not? Once the first test is passed, then, it requires additional probing to establish True Leaders.
What is the changeless core essential for any Leader? If this core is applied by human beings to all types of materialistic things, we need to place the same emphasis on the Leader in Public or Personal Role. From this core, one can easily manifest the Essentials of Leadership. It is important to understand the “4 Es ” of Leadership – Live By Example, Let Us Envision, Light The Energy, and Lead In Execution.
If you want to leave a mark in your life, personal or professional, it is imperative you make “leadership” become a central part of your day to day living.
So, you have a Choice to make Leadership happen to you and not let some Chance Event lead you to it!!!