Leadership

The Ultimate aim of human life and activity is the development of character, according to Aristotle

The most important goal you could hope to accomplish in the course of your life is to become an excellent person, in every respect.

Your purpose should be to develop the kind of personality and character that earns you the respect, esteem, and affection of the important people in your world.

Men and women of great character are those who have developed the habits of thinking and behaving that are consistent with the fine qualities they wish to be known for.

They discipline themselves to do the right thing in every situation.

By working on themselves and by steady effort, great people in our out, living and dead, have behaved in certain ways whether they felt like or not.

Aristotle wrote about the great virtues possessed by the leading men and women of age. He concluded that each virtue is a “golden mean” between the extremes of that quality on either side. For example, he concluded that courage was the golden mean between cowardliness on the one extreme and impetuosity on the other

The Education of the Young

Aristotle also wrote, “All improvement in society begins with the education of a young.”

One of the primary responsibilities of those in charge of educating young people is to instill in them the importance of virtue, character, and good behavior.

Well, fortunately all virtues and values are merely habits of thinking and acting.

You can learn any habit you consider to be either desirable or necessary. You can learn a virtue or value of character and leadership the same way you develop a physical skill or habit by practice and repetition.

Develop Your Own Character

If you wish to develop the quality of courage, act courageously even when you feel afraid.”

1. Imagine Your Ideal Self

The starting point of character development is for you develop the habit of long-term thinking in your work and in your personal life.

2. Acting as if You Were Already That Person

As you develop greater clarity about how you want to be remembered in the hearts and minds of other people, you will become clearer about those values and qualities most important to you.

You can then set those qualities as goals for yourself and make plans for their accomplishment.

ASPIRES TO LEADERSHIP

It is not easy to rise to a position of leadership in any organization or in any society. The competition for leadership is fierce. Only the people who are the very best equipped to acquire leadership position and then to hold on to those positions rise to the top in any areas.

Whatever It takes

What is necessary for success in a leadership position is determined by many factors including the people to be led; the objectives to be accomplished; the competition for resources; the social, cultural, political, and economic environment; and the situation that the leader finds at the moment.

Changing any one of these factors will change the qualities of leadership necessary for success. Leaders have vision; ordinary people do not.

Develop a Vision.

First, habit you must develop is the habit of vision. What you want to accomplish in the future.

Dare to Go Forward

Second, Leader’s habit is the habit of courage. Willingness to launch, to take action in the direction of your goals and dreams, with no guarantee of success. Requiring you to take risks with time, money, emotion, and other resources.

Once you have developed a clear vision for your ideal future and resolved to develop unshakable courage by doing the things you fear, you must develop the habit of accepting complete responsibility for yourself and every aspect of your life

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE

Take Charge of Your Emotions

Make it a habit to continually repeat to your self the words, I am responsible!

Whenever you feel angry or frustrated about some person or situation, immediately cancel this thought and feeling by saying, I am responsible!

Tell the Truth

The most important quality of leadership is the habit of integrity. You develop integrity and become a completely honest person by practicing telling the truth to yourself and others in every situation

Decide What You Stand For

Living in truth means that you live consistent with the highest values that you know. This requires you develop the habit of thinking through who you are and what you believe in.

BE ROLE MODEL FOR OTHER

Adam Smith, in his important book, The Theory, of Moral Sentiments, wrote that excellent people have three primary virtues: Prudence, Justice, and Benevolence. Each of them is essential to the others and to the living of a full life in society.

The virtue of prudence refers to your developing the habit of providing well for yourself, your family, your friends, your workers and your company.

Prudence

This requires that you think intelligently and honestly about the very best course of action to maximize your opportunities and minimize possible danger and threats.

Justice Is Blind

The second, habit for you to develop is the habit of justice. This refers to your commitment to the establishment and maintenance of laws in society that protect the person and property of every individual.

Benevolence

The third, quality you must develop is the habit of benevolence. This is one of the hallmark characteristics of the truly superior person. Aristotle referred to it as one of the eight essential virtues, that of “generosity”

Believe in Something Greater

One of the most important habits you can develop is the habit of faith. Regardless of your religious or spiritual beliefs, it seems that most great men and women are men and women of faith to a high degree.

Seek the Valuable Lesson

When you have faith, you believe that every setback contains a lesson that has been sent to you to help you.

Norman Vincent Peale used to say “when God wants to send you a gift, He wraps it up in a problem. The bigger the problem He wraps it up in, the bigger the gift that it contains.

Loyalty Is Essential

The habit of loyalty seems to be a quality of the very best people in our society.

Disloyalty is a major reason for failure in business and the world of work.

The habit of loyalty seems to be a quality of the very best people in our society.

LOYALTY IS ESSENTIAL

Support Your Family, Friends and company

The habit of loyalty requires that you be absolutely loyal to your company. You never criticize your boss or the people you work with especially outside the company.

Learn From Experience

This young experience taught me something that has been priceless in my own personal life. From birth of my first child, I have developed myself to practicing 100 percent unconditional loyalty to my children, no matter what mistakes they made or what trouble they got into (all children get into things when they are growing up)

NEVER GIVE UP

Habit of persistence and determination.

Napoleon Hill wrote, “Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel. You always act in a manner consistent with the way you believe inside, your self-concept.

ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

The final habit for you to develop in becoming a truly excellent person is the habit of practicing an “attitude of gratitude” in every part of your life.

Napoleon Hill wrote, “Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel. You always act in a manner consistent with the way you believe inside, your self-concept.

Thankful for Everything

Even in the midst of the greatest difficulties you will experience, you can find things which you are truly grateful. In fact, if you take a piece of paper and begin to write down the part of your life for which you should be grateful, you will be amazed at how many items appear on you list.

Your Great Good Fortune

The most successful people I have met, including millionaires, multimillionaires and even billionaires always seem to describe their successes in life by saying “Life has been very good to me, I have been so fortune, I have so many things to be grateful for”

Thankful for Everything

The discovery that all of us are where we are, and what we are because of ourselves. We are where we are and what we are because of our habitual thoughts and actions. Men and women of great character, competence, and leadership abilities are those who have worked on themselves, usually for many years, to become the kind of people that others look up to respect, and admire.

What is leadership?

Leading people

Influencing people

Commanding people

Guiding people

Leadership is situational.

Different situations call for different styles of leadership.

It is the art of getting or inspiring people to do something with the focus on people.

A leader is expected to act as a liason between an individual and the organization.

The behavior must be appropriate for the situation.

One style of leadership is not necessarily better than another.

Leaders integrate the needs of followers with the goals of the organization by integrating people with tasks.

They transform potential into reality.

Types of Leadership StyleAutocratic:

Leader makes decisions without reference to anyone else

High degree of dependency on the leader Can create de-motivation and alienation

of staff May be valuable in some types of business

where decisions need to be made quickly and decisively

Consultative: process of consultation before decisions are taken

Persuasive: Leader takes decision and seeks to persuade others that the decision is correct

Democratic:

Encourages decision making from different perspectives –leadership may be emphasised throughout the organisation

Democratic: May help motivation and involvement Workers feel ownership of the firm

and its ideas Improves the sharing of ideas

and experiences within the business Can delay decision making

Laissez-Faire: ‘Let it be’ – the leadership responsibilities

are shared by all Can be very useful in businesses

where creative ideas are important Can be highly motivational,

as people have control over their working life

Can make coordination and decision making

time-consuming and lacking in overall direction

Relies on good team work Relies on good interpersonal relations

Paternalistic:Leader acts as a ‘father figure’Paternalistic leader makes decision

but may consultBelieves in the need to support

staff

Types of Leaders

Leader by the position achievedLeader by personality, charisma Leader by moral exampleLeader by power heldIntellectual leaderLeader because of ability to

accomplish things

A Leader’s agenda - 8 steps to good performance

PLAN1.Create a vision2.Develop clear work plans

MONITOR5. Monitor performance & progress6. Reflect & Learn

ORGANISE3. Review structures & work processes 4. Lead & support staff

DEVELOP7. Review the strategic framew

ork8. Diagnose the situation

Managers vs. Leaders

ManagersFocus on thingsDo things rightPlanOrganizeDirectControlFollows the

rules

LeadersFocus on peopleDo the right

thingsInspireInfluenceMotivateBuild Shape entities

Common Activities

Planning OrganizingDirecting Controlling

Planning

ManagerPlanningBudgetingSets targetsEstablishes

detailed stepsAllocates

resources

LeaderDevises strategy

Sets direction Creates vision

Organizing

ManagerCreates

structureJob descriptionsStaffing HierarchyDelegatesTraining

LeaderGets people on

board for strategy

CommunicationNetworks

Directing Work

ManagerSolves problemsNegotiates Brings to

consensus

LeaderEmpowers

peopleCheerleader

Controlling

Manager Implements

control systems Performance

measuresIdentifies

variancesFixes variances

Leader MotivateInspireGives sense of

accomplishment

Leadership TraitsIntelligence

More intelligent than non-leaders

Scholarship Knowledge Being able to

get things donePhysical

Doesn’t see to be correlated

Personality Verbal facility Honesty Initiative Aggressive Self-confident Ambitious Originality Sociability Adaptability

My experience of developments in Asia has led me to conclude that we need good men to have good government. However good the system of government, bad leaders will bring harm to their people.

Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, 2000:735

How Far Can You Go?