What Is A Leader?

Last Tuesday morning I started a new program at Greene County High School called rAM Leadership. The purpose is to talk about what it means to be a leader and what leadership qualities we should all be striving to be aware of and work on. The sessions are open to any student or teacher that wants to engage in and continue on their leadership journey.

Here are a few talking points and highlights from that first session that may be applicable to us all:

1. Leadership is available to every person. Research suggests that 1/3 of leaders are born with leadership traits and qualifies. That means the anyone can learn to be a leader through study, learning, experience and being committed to being a leader. Anyone can be a leader if they are intentional.
2. The most important person you lead every day is yourself. Make a commitment every day to improving yourself physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. If you are leading yourself daily then you will have an opportunity to lead others Ina positive way as well.
3. It is estimated that we make somewhere in the neighborhood of 35,000 choices per day. Some are more mundane than others but some have a direct impact and correlation on what kind of leader we can become. Other choices define what kind of leader we truly are.
4. Every person is on a leadership journey. Some are in different places on their journey than others and that’s OK. Don’t compare where you are at to other people. Your journey is your journey and you have special gifts and talents that only you can use. The comparison game robs us of using those special gifts, and in turn, keeps us from helping and leading others.

At the end of each session I will give them two or three things to be mindful of during their week. Here are three things I believe all leaders should be aware of daily.

1. Be aware of the choices that you make that will impact your growth as a leader and your ability to lead others.
2. Get Better Every Day. Even if it is only 1% better. Keep moving forward and improving yourself physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.
3. Process what you observe from positive and negative leaders. Observe and apply what you learn. The most important step is applying what we learn.

Be Blessed and make a difference in your world.

Interaction by interaction. Moment by moment.

Thanks for reading.