Last night on our drive to Indiana to visit family, Kim and I were attempting to break leadership down to its simplest components. Honestly, we were much better at complicating leadership. But, after a hundred miles of talking, we landed on these two components of leadership.
- Most leaders say something – their words inspire a vision that people can see. When they speak, it is clear and people are ready to follow with all that they’ve got! We talked about Abraham Lincoln. He was a great leader with inspiring words that led the people of our nation to act.
- Most leaders do something – they have a cause and they do something about it. When they begin to act, other people get on board. We talked about Mother Teresa. Although she had amazing words, her deeds spoke so much louder than her words.
Yes, I know. It seems too simple. But, if you can say something that inspires a group of people to act, you are a leader who can change the world.
What would you add to the list?
Great post! There was an article a few years ago in Forbes magazine that listed some traits of a great leader (I don’t recall how many there were), but the two that I remember are moral courage and judgment. The author talked about how important it is to stick to one’s beliefs even against the greatest adversity. He also noted that without good judgment, courage is useless. People that often have the best judgment have asked questions of and truly listened to those people that have survived life’s greatest trials.