Two Leadership Traits Never Talked About... (especially during this presidential election)

During this hot political time leadership is talked about often as our country scrutinizes and compares presidential candidates hoping to choose the best leader.  I love the idea however that being a leader is less about position, experience, or title and more about actions, attitude, and behaviors.  Leaders are everywhere and come from all walks of life and are often not the people we presume to be leaders.  And yes, each of us has the opportunity to be a leader regardless of our station in life. 

There are many qualities that are regularly attributed to leaders however today I’d like to focus on two less talked about attributes that I believe are super important to great leadership.    

Number one is a great leader has self-control.  Having self-control allows a person to stay cool under pressure, manage their emotions, and think logical and rational at all times.  With self-control a person will have the ability to develop good habits and avoid things that diminish one’s ability to lead.  Self-control also allows a person to set a good example for others to follow which is perhaps the most powerful way a leader influences others. Self-control also results in “private victories” that are needed in order to have “public victories”, an idea shared in Stephen R. Covey’s book on the 7 Habits.  At the end of the day, self-control is a crucial quality to being a great leader. 

Number two is love.  I once read in a book about John Wooden that a leader who doesn’t truly love others will turn around one day and find no one is following.  Love matters.  And love for others is leadership in its purest form.  Love is a powerful influencer and can change hearts and minds.  Love makes one sacrifice their own wants and desires for the wants and desires of others or for a cause greater than themselves.  When we love others, truly love others, we lead.

Leadership is all around us in unexpected places.  Though rarely mentioned if at all when discussing leadership, self-control and love are two traits of great leaders.  As we develop as leaders, and look for leaders to lead our country, I believe we need to strongly consider these two qualities.  God bless America!              

Thoughts and Drugs

“He who wants to keep his garden tidy never leaves a plot for weeds.”  Stephen R. Covey

Our thoughts have a powerful impact on our lives.  What we choose to think can and will eventually have a strong influence on our health and well-being as well as our success in life.  As a man thinks so does he become, therefore we must be careful and ensure that we think the right thoughts. 

Most of us would never dare damaging our body or brains with the use of hard drugs.  We realize that doing so can have great and lasting consequences on our health and well-being and happiness in life and therefore we stay far away from them and avoid them.  Unfortunately however, many of us do not treat negative thoughts the same way.  Some of us even find ourselves indulging in them day after day.  The full negative impact of bad thoughts on our lives really cannot be measured but the reality is we should avoid them just as we do hard drugs because of their potentially addicting and damaging consequences. 

A root cause to negative thoughts is the type and kind of media we consume.  If we are constantly involved in watching or listening to what might be considered lewd, crude, vulgar, or immoral than it will be difficult to maintain good, positive thoughts.  Consuming this kind of media which is so prevalent in our society is like being the frog that sat in warm water while the temperature gradually increased until the frog boiled.  Filling our minds with filth will slowly erode and eventually damage our character and who we are.     

So although the immediate effects are not as readily noticeable as hard drugs, the impact of negative thoughts can be just as destructive over time.  Therefore we must mind our thoughts and treat negative ones as we would any dangerous, destructive, and addictive habit for that is what they are.  We can’t be lulled in to the belief that thoughts don’t really matter all that much...   

When we discipline ourselves to rise above the filth and maintain clean positive thoughts we can only then truly become our best selves and reach our full potential.  Those who are able to control their thoughts and keep them positive will have greater success and happiness in life.