Lead Yourself and Others Will Follow
In Dying to be Me, Anita Moorjani writes that she doesn’t believe the greatest truths of the universe lie outside, in the study of the stars and the planets.
“They lie deep within us, in the magnificence of our heart, mind and soul. Until we understand what is within, we can’t understand what is without.”
I love the way she expresses that, because that is how I view the whole concept of leadership.
Until you can lead yourself, from the inside out, I don’t believe that you can truly lead others.
Within all of us is that central place where our values, our intelligence, our feelings and intuition, and our dreams and boldness all converge. It could be called our heart, or our nucleus, or our centre.
Whatever name we put on it, it is the place from where our true leadership emerges. It is where we find our courage to believe that we know the way to go and that it is our role to lead others to this destination.
When you get in touch with your nucleus, when you know it intimately and how it works the way it does, and why it works that way, then you have such an amazing energy that others are attracted to you and want to follow you.
It is known as charisma, but it is really the energy that truly comes from knowing who you are and what you want to achieve.
In a world full of doubters and puzzlers and people just unable to make a decision for fear of making the wrong one, it is the most amazing and attractive quality that a human being can have.
When you have it, you learn to lead yourself from a point of view of your true values and ethics, the full capacity of what you know, and the fire to serve others. You make logical, good decisions and it is easy to persuade others to follow your course.
Most of all, you find your purpose when you truly know yourself. When you have purpose, your personal potential is magnified 10 times over, and the potential of those who follow you and agree to work with you to a common goal is magnified 100 times over.
It suddenly becomes clear to everyone in the playing field what your organization or business is about, why it matters, and what must be done to make it succeed.
Leadership doesn’t mean that you have to control every thought or every action as you move forward. Instead it means that you have to ignite others to your purpose and after that, other fires will start to burn and move to clear the path to the final destination or goal.
But you are the initial spark, and what is inside of you is what provides the endless source of fuel to keep all the other lights on.
It is time to dive deep into that nucleus of your leadership and carefully consider that one thing that you really want to achieve this year more than everything else.
Align all factors of your being with it before you share it with others. Being fully ignited and on course when you first discuss your goal will be vitally important in getting the buy-in from those you must lead to achieve it.
Create a solid workable plan and adapt it with the creative input of others.
Share it and then take the first steps. Nothing will stop you now.
Paula Morand is a leadership building, revenue boosting, strategy expanding keynote speaker, author and visionary. This dreaming big and being bold leadership expert and brand strategist brings her vibrant energy, humor and wisdom to ignite individuals, organizations and communities to lead change, growth and impact in a more bold fashion.
24 years, 27,000 clients, 34 countries, 15 books, former radio personality, 11x award winning entrepreneur and humorous emcee.
Check out Paula’s bestselling books on Amazon: “Bold Courage: How Owning Your Awesome Changes Everything”, “Dreaming BIG and Being BOLD: Inspiring stories from Trailblazers, Visionaries and Change Makers” book series; and due to be released in January 2018 “Bold Vision: A Leader’s Playbook for Managing Growth”.
For speaking inquiries email bookings@paulamorand.com or call toll-free 1-888-502-6317.