by Johnston

Created on: September 27, 2010

If Leaders are born, Today is Your Birthday

Some say leaders are born so I say Happy Birthday! Today is your day. Watching the recent events of the BP oil spill and the public’s reaction to Tony Hayward, it drives home the point that companies need leaders who have the ability to make an impact. Leaders are not infallible and leaders are human but a “true” leader has the ability to rally those around them so all aspire to greatness.

By observation, research, or just through watching our nightly news, it’s become painfully obvious that we are lacking in leadership that inspires all of us to reach our personal best. Read the transcript of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech or better yet, watch the video. I challenge you not to have goose bumps when you hear the words in the speech or watch his delivery. We cannot all have a presence of Martin Luther King but we have the ability to share some of the same attributes that make you a great leader. Great leaders need to have the following key characteristics:

Passion and Purpose - Passion drives you. Purpose becomes clear when you have passion. You have to know what you stand for before you can engage others in the process. Leadership is the ability to influence others but influence is meaningless without the internal passion that lights fire to the process. Companies have mission and value statements and tout these as the driving force for the organization. If you cannot find passion within those mission and values, it is time to create a new vision or it is time to rethink your ability to be a thought provoking and action oriented leader. As Dale Carnegie says, "You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing."

Model the behavior you want to see and set the standard for ethics and integrity - People watch you even when you do not realize it. If you cannot model the behavior you want to see in others, your credibility will be minimized. Jim Kouzes, co-author of Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It tells us “If you don’t believe in the messenger you won’t believe the message.”

Having a formal ethics or code of conduct policy is pretty standard in today’s business world. Leaders need to go beyond that and write their personal code of conduct for ethics and integrity.

Expectations – Set your expectations high. Low expectations will probably yield low results. See what happens when you expect

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