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The Qualities of Skillful Leadership
Jim Rohn
If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the
key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership
is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills, and
opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manger, as a
parent. I call leadership the great challenge of life.
What's important in leadership is refining your skills. All
great leaders keep working on themselves until they become
effective. Here are some specifics:
- Learn to be strong but not rude. It is an extra step you
must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide
range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength.
It's not even a good substitute.
- Learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake
kindness for weakness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is
a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell
somebody the truth. We must be kind enough and
considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind
enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion.
- Learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to
win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk
in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take
the first arrow, tackle the first problem, discover the
first sign of trouble.
- You've got to learn to be humble, but not timid. You
can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people
mistake timidity for humility. Humility is almost a Godlike
word. A sense of awe. A sense of wonder. An awareness
of the human soul and spirit. An understanding that
there is something unique about the human drama versus
the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance
between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're
part of the stars. So humility is a virtue; but timidity is
a disease. Timidity is an affliction. It can be cured, but
it is a problem.
- Be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to win the day.
It takes pride to build your ambition. It takes pride in
community. It takes pride in cause, in accomplishment.
But the key to becoming a good leader is being proud without
being arrogant. In fact I believe the worst kind of arrogance
is arrogance from ignorance. It's when you don't know that
you don't know. Now that kind of arrogance is intolerable.
If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But
if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much
to take.
- Develop humor without folly. That's important for a
leader. In leadership, we learn that it's okay to be witty,
but not silly. It's okay to be fun, but not foolish.
Lastly, deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the
agony. Just accept life like it is. Life is unique. Some
people call it tragic, but I'd like to think it's unique.
The whole drama of life is unique. It's fascinating.
And I've found that the skills that work well for
one leader may not work at all for another. But the
fundamental skills of leadership can be adapted to work
well for just about everyone: at work, in the community,
and at home.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
This article was submitted by Jim Rohn, America's Foremost Business Philosopher. To subscribe to the Free Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine visit www.jimrohn.com and also receive 20-60% off on all audios, books and tapes. Also review the complete Jim Rohn archive of articles, vitamins for the mind and Q and A. Copyright © 1999 Jim Rohn International. All rights reserved worldwide.
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