Things You Thought You Knew About Leadership

Much has been written about leadership: rules, pointers, styles, and biographies of inspiring leaders throughout world history. But there are certain leadership ideas that we ourselves fail to recognize and realize in the course of reading books. Here is a short list of things you thought you knew about leadership.

1. Leaders come in different flavors.

There are different types of leaders and you will probably encounter more than one type in your lifetime. Formal leaders are those we elect into positions or offices such as the senators, congressmen, and presidents of the local clubs. Informal leaders or those we look up to by virtue of their wisdom and experience such as in the case of the elders of a tribe, or our grandparents; or by virtue of their expertise and contribution on a given field such as Albert Einstein in the field of Theoretical Physics and Leonardo da Vinci in the field of the Arts. Both formal and informal leaders practice a combination of leadership styles.

·           Lewin’s three basic leadership styles – authoritative, participative, and delegative

·           Likert’s four leadership styles – exploitive authoritative, benevolent authoritative, consultative, and participative

·           Goleman’s six emotional leadership styles - visionary, coaching, affiliative, democratic, pace setting, and commanding.  

2. Leadership is a process of becoming.

Although certain people seem to be born with innate leadership qualities, without the right environment and exposure, they may fail to develop their full potential. So like learning how to ride a bicycle, you can also learn how to become a leader and hone your leadership abilities. Knowledge on leadership theories and skills may be formally gained by enrolling in leadership seminars, workshops, and conferences. Daily interactions with people provide the opportunity to observe and practice leadership theories. Together, formal and informal learning will help you gain leadership attitudes, gain leadership insights, and thus furthering the cycle of learning. You do not become a leader in one day and just stop. Life-long learning is important in becoming a good leader for each day brings new experiences that put your knowledge, skills, and attitude to a test.

3. Leadership starts with you.

The best way to develop leadership qualities is to apply it to your own life. As an adage goes “action speaks louder than words.” Leaders are always in the limelight. Keep in mind that your credibility as a leader depends much on your actions: your interaction with your family, friends, and co-workers; your way of managing your personal and organizational responsibilities; and even the way you talk with the newspaper vendor across the street. Repeated actions become habits. Habits in turn form a person’s character. Steven Covey’s book entitled 7 Habits of Highly Effective People provides good insights on how you can achieve personal leadership.

4. Leadership is shared.

Leadership is not the sole responsibility of one person, but rather a shared responsibility among members of an emerging team. A leader belongs to a group. Each member has responsibilities to fulfill. Formal leadership positions are merely added responsibilities aside from their responsibilities as members of the team. Effective leadership requires members to do their share of work. Starting as a mere group of individuals, members and leaders work towards the formation of an effective team. In this light, social interaction plays a major role in leadership. To learn how to work together requires a great deal of trust between and among leaders and members of an emerging team. Trust is built upon actions and not merely on words. When mutual respect exists, trust is fostered and confidence is built.

5. Leadership styles depend on the situation.

How come dictatorship works for Singapore but not in the United States of America? Aside from culture, beliefs, value system, and form of government, the current situation of a nation also affects the leadership styles used by its formal leaders. There is no rule that only one style can be used. Most of the time, leaders employ a combination of leadership styles depending on the situation. In emergency situations such as periods of war and calamity, decision-making is a matter of life and death. Thus, a nation’s leader cannot afford to consult with all departments to arrive at crucial decisions. The case is of course different in times of peace and order---different sectors and other branches of government can freely interact and participate in governance. Another case in point is in leading organizations. When the staffs are highly motivated and competent, a combination of high delegative and moderate participative styles of leadership is most appropriate. But if the staffs have low competence and low commitment, a combination of high coaching, high supporting, and high directing behavior from organizational leaders is required.

Now that you are reminded of these things, keep in mind that there are always ideas that we think we already know; concepts we take for granted, but are actually the most useful insights on leadership.

Debt Freedom - The How To Guide

Debt is something many people all over the world struggle with, and many want to know how to be debt free. In today's society you can't afford to spend cash on everything, and sometimes you have to use a credit card or get a loan. But if the unexpected happens and you're unable to pay back those debts it can spiral out of control.

An illness, some time off from work or even an unexpected household repair that requires you to use your credit card can all be reasons for you to find yourself with more debt than you can handle.

There are many options available to help you reach financial freedom; such as debt counseling services, debt consolidation and even bankruptcy.  But before you do anything that drastic take some time to try to fix your debt situation on your own.

It is possible, even without adding income, to pay off your debt.  It will take time and it will take discipline but if you are committed to living a life without any debt you can do it.

Below is a step by step plan that will help you to get rid of all your debt. It isn't a quick fix, but it's realistic and has worked for thousands of people, and it can work for you too:

1) Make yourself a detailed list of all your debt. Add everything, even the smallest of debts should be added to this list. This list should include your monthly household bills (such as house payments, insurance, utility bills, etc) in one column and your debt in another column.

2) Make a very detailed budget for all your monthly expenses. Be sure to have enough so you are able to make at least the minimum payments on all of your debt.

3) From the lists above pick the smallest debt as your target. Pay as much towards this debt as you can without cutting payments on your other debts. Once you manage to pay off this debt completely, take that money and apply it to the next smallest debt. Keep doing this again and again until your debt is all paid off. Doing this will allow you to pay off all your debt, even if you can't get extra money coming in.

This method works, it just takes discipline. You'll have to make sacrifices if you want to be debt free. That means making a reasonable budget and sticking to it.  But if you stay disciplined, and keep at it, you will eventually find yourself out of debt which will bring you peace of mind and will make all the sacrifices seem worthwhile.

Free Your Self Improvement Power

When we look at a certain object, a painting for example – we won’t be able to appreciate what’s in it, what is painted and what else goes with it  if the painting is just an inch away from our face. But if we try to take it a little further, we’ll have a clearer vision of the whole art work.

We reach a point in our life when we are ready for change and a whole bunch of information that will help us unlock our self improvement power. Until then, something can be staring us right under our nose but we don’t see it.  The only time we think of unlocking our self improvement power is when everything got worst. Take the frog principle for example –

Try placing Frog A in a pot of boiling water. What happens? He twerps! He jumps off! Why? Because he is not able to tolerate sudden change in his environment – the water’s temperature. Then try Frog B: place him in a luke warm water, then turn the gas stove on. Wait til the water reaches a certain boiling point. Frog B then thinks “Ooh… it’s a bit warm in here”.

People are like Frog B in general. Today, Anna thinks Carl hates her. Tomorrow, Patrick walks up to her and told her he hates her. Anna stays the same and doesn’t mind what her friends says. The next day, she learned that Kim and John also abhor her. Anna doesn’t realize at once the importance and the need for self improvement until the entire community hates her.

We learn our lessons when we experience pain. We finally see the warning signs and signals when things get rough and tough. When do we realize that we need to change diets? When none of our jeans and shirts would fit us. When do we stop eating candies and chocolates? When all of our teeth have fallen out. When do we realize that we need to stop smoking? When our lungs have gone bad. When do we pray and ask for help? When we realize that we’re gonna die tomorrow.

The only time most of us ever learn about unlocking our self improvement power is when the whole world is crashing and falling apart. We think and feel this way because it is not easy to change. But change becomes more painful when we ignore it.

Change will happen, like it or hate it. At one point or another, we are all going to experience different turning points in our life – and we are all going to eventually unlock our self improvement power not because the world says so, not because our friends are nagging us, but because we realized its for our own good.

Happy people don’t just accept change, they embrace it. Now, you don’t have to feel a tremendous heat before realizing the need for self improvement.  Unlocking your self improvement power means unlocking yourself up in the cage of thought that “its just the way I am”. It is such a poor excuse for people who fear and resist change. Most of us program our minds like computers.

Jen repeatedly tells everyone that she doesn’t have the guts to be around groups of people. She heard her mom, her dad, her sister, her teacher tell the same things about her to other people. Over the years, that is what Jen believes. She believes its her story. And what happens? Every time a great crowd would troop over their house, in school, and in the community – she tends to step back, shy away and lock herself up in a room. Jen didn’t only believed in her story, she lived it.

Jen has to realize that she is not what she is in her story. Instead of having her story post around her face for everyone to remember, she has to have the spirit and show people “I am an important person and I should be treated accordingly!”

Self improvement may not be everybody’s favorite word, but if we look at things in a different point of view, we might have greater chances of enjoying the whole process instead of counting the days until we are fully improved. Three sessions in a week at the gym would result to a healthier life.  Reading self-help books instead of looking at TV will shape up a more profound knowledge.  Going out with friends and peers will help you take a step back from work and unwind.  And just when you are enjoying the whole process of unlocking your self improvement power, you’ll realize that you’re beginning to take things light and become happy.

Keeping Your Kids Healthy

Today, more kids than ever are overweight.  They get less exercise and eat more unhealthy food than generations past.  Video games have become a substitute for playing outside, and convenience foods are becoming a staple in their diets.  These changes have lead to an increased incidence of a variety of disorders.

It is more important now than it has ever been to do our best to keep our kids healthy.  Kids have more unhealthy options than they once did, and it is our job to make sure they get the exercise and healthy diet they need.  Here are some things we can do to help our kids stay in good health:

* Limit snack choices.  Instead of buying lots of chips and sweets, stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables for snacks.  Given the opportunity, many kids love to eat apples, bananas, celery, and other natural foods.  And if there are no unhealthy options available, they can't eat them.

* Provide balanced meals at home.  A frozen pizza every now and then is not the end of the world, but it shouldn't be a staple of your child's diet.  And when frozen pizza is on the menu, it can be accompanied by a salad or followed by a dessert of fresh fruit.

* Avoid fast food as much as possible.  Fast food is notoriously salty and greasy, and it has little nutritional value.  When eating out, choose restaurants that offer healthier fare.

* Put limits on the use of video games, computers, and television.  These things take up time that could be spent participating in more active pursuits.  Thirty minutes to an hour a day is more than enough time for kids to do these things.

* Provide ample opportunity for physical exercise.  Play catch with the kids, go on bike rides with them, and encourage participation in sports.  If exercise is fun, kids will be more willing to work up a sweat.

* Give your kids gifts that encourage them to get up and move.  Skateboards and sports equipment are a couple of ideas.  By giving such things for birthdays and holidays instead of video games and other items that require less active participation, you send the message that physical activity is important.

Keeping our kids healthy is a harder job than it has ever been.  But if we take the initiative to provide them with healthier choices, it's not so hard to get them started eating healthily and exercising.  And if we instill these habits into our children early, they will be more likely to continue to follow them as adults.  This paves the way for a lifetime of healthy living, improving their quality of life for the long haul.