A Leader Serves!
Celebrate those that not only create a better world, but challenge us to live our lives in a more true and just manner. As a leader, you need to serve, lead by example and assist those that follow you!
In the business world, we typically have people appointed to management positions for no reason other than that the position offers greater security and pay.
Being in management though does not make you a leader!
You are a leader when you have people following you!
Each January we get to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, we get to celebrate for more reasons than what was achieved through the civil rights movement, but how it was done. Dr. King was a leader because he had thousands of followers, and he drew people unto him based on his willingness to serve and put himself in a position to assist his followers achieve a greater future than they faced at that time.
Dr. King unlike many people today led with a firm stance, unshaken by that which he and his followers faced. He stood fast with the morals, beliefs and convictions, that no matter the challenges, investigations or threats stood by what he believed to be true!
I still have a dream, a dream deeply rooted in the American dream – one day this nation will rise up and live up to its creed, "We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream ...
—Martin Luther King Jr.
Leaders need to fulfill the qualities
A Dream - You need to have something that you will stand for, some principle or thought for which you can rally others around. If you do not have something that you stand for, why would people be drawn to you?
Communication - If you can not share and articulate the dream, how would people know about you and what you stand for!
Loyalty - Leaders serve those that follow them. If you are leaving your followers to fend for themselves, your lack of loyalty will be reciprocated in the same fashion.
Honesty and Sincerity - We can all tell if someone truly believes what they preach. If you are fake and are insincere, your followers will leave you stranded.
Passion - It all starts and ends with Passion! Passion gives you the energy to wake and the humility to serve your followers for the greater good and bigger picture!
Dr. Martin Luther King showed us the qualities that all leaders should aspire for. In the business world, your followers may leave your company, or even worse continue to dredge out their employment under your leadership or lack there of, only hurting the performance of others around them and your company's profitability.