Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates. This guide will help you become a leader in your personal life, your work, and a competitive person. You dare?
Developing leadership is something ambitious in any field. Following this leader’s manual can make you one, and that is an advantage that if you manage to take advantage of it, it will give you more personal and professional benefits than you imagine. From the hand of an expert on the subject, the Mexican based in Uruguay, Jaime Lokier —author of the books “Leadership Networks” and “Leaders die, Movements don’t” – we reveal a 10-step manual for you to become into a true leader.
You must understand what it means to be a leader today
Leadership is defined as ‘the ability to guide a team to a common goal’. Today, the concept remains the same, but a variable has been added to it: social media. “Modernity exposes leaders to the people; Before, a leader was simply the guide, the one who gave the directions, but nowadays there is a lot of information available so that his figure is under permanent scrutiny ”, assures Lokier. The leader today must assume that his role has changed and migrated from being the person who only gave orders, to the person who gives results and exploits the integral potential of people and their team.
For example, moguls like Elon Musk (here their habits that you could incorporate into your life), Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos represent different types of leaders of the current era.
Understand the responsibility of being a leader.
Leadership is like fire, if you use it for good, it is very positive, but it also has a destructive capacity. “Leadership gives power over people, and people are the most powerful resource of humanity,” says the expert. And Peter Parker’s uncle also said it: “With great power comes great responsibility.” (Also Read: How To Set Google As Your Main Search Engine)
Have clarity
A leader must be very clear about what his team, company or project is looking for: Who we are and what we want to achieve. The leader must know what he is looking for and wants, and the more clarity he has, the more he can establish himself as a leader.
To be a leader, is it enough to want to be?
Not necessarily, but it is an advantage because when you want something, you learn, you modify what you need to modify and in that way, you can become a leader. In that sense, another of the first steps to being a leader is wanting to be one. ” Leadership is not a characteristic, it is not like being blonde or red, leadership is a capacity composed of many skills that can be obtained with practice and with studies,” says Lokier. That way, you can figure out what kind of leader you can be and complement what you know you are lacking.
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A leader must be respected
It is not about inspiring fear in your team, but the leader does need great respect to be involved. If they don’t believe in you at first and don’t respect you, they won’t listen to you. The expert interviewed is clear on this point: “Others must know what you are talking about, trust that you master the area in which you intend to be a leader. In this way, the influence on others and the trust of a group is generated ”. And that is well known to Benno Dorer, the highest ranked CEO in the world, who once shared his leadership experience
A leader knows how to connect with others
This point is basic: create emotional connections with others. “A leader must connect with the hearts of the people, it is useless if you are good if others do not know or are not interested. The way to communicate an idea is the most important and to begin to exercise leadership , it is necessary to be a great storyteller to make people see themselves in that future that does not yet exist ”, reveals the expert.
A leader commits
It is absolutely necessary that you be a committed person in all aspects where you want to be a leader and set the example of what you need to do. Modern leaders know that the audience wants to see that: commitment and – today more before, as we noted at the beginning of the article – leaders are exposed to the inquisitive gaze of others . “If you disappoint someone as a leader, that person who followed you with fervor, will become your worst detractor,” says the specialist.
The step of selling yourself as a leader
If people don’t know it, it doesn’t exist. What you must do is sell yourself, show off, give victories to the team and motivate them (another of the obvious keys is motivation towards others), show progress. “Nowadays, social networks, although they can bring down leadership, they can also create opinion leaders,” says the interviewee. “If you are talking about mothers all day on social networks, they will perceive that from you, there must be congruence. If you start adding value and advice on your platforms, there you will start to be an opinion leader ”.
A leader knows how to make decisions
Once you have started to assume leadership, it is important that you develop and become an expert in making decisions , that is exactly what differentiates a leader from others. “The technical director of a soccer team never touches the ball in a game, but he is the one who gets fired when something goes wrong, because he makes the decisions. As a leader, you must bear in mind that you are also responsible if things fail ”.
A leader knows how to work with others (and compete)
In modern leadership, teamwork – either in person or remotely – is key to making machinery work. The leader of any field, be it sports, business, family or a group of friends, must know how to put the correct pieces in the appropriate place and not be afraid to do without those who do not work. Today’s leader is not afraid of having better people than him by his side , he accepts that there are better elements and that he is not an expert in everything, except in making decisions for others. “Behind the great leaders like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, there are brilliant people. The famous leaders of history have great minds within their team without fear of being overshadowed. That finally makes them more competitive ”, assures Jaime Lokier.
