I once read the 21 irrefutable laws of leadership by John C Maxwell and it helped me understand the importance of leadership.
It showed me that effectiveness in life is directly proportional to one’s leadership ability.
You see, for a very long time in my life, I have often likened the word leadership to position of authority. I have always thought that you can use or practice leadership only when you have been elected as a leader in an organization or gathering.
But as I grew older and learned more, I realized that you don’t actually need a leadership position before you can become a leader. I learnt that leadership is nothing about the position, but everything about the person.
” Leadership is ability in a person, not a privilege or right in any position”
Kasie Samuel.
I constantly asked myself, what makes a leader, since it’s not necessarily a position. Then, I came across a story about a manager of a company;
This man was so good at what he does that within months he was able to raise the company from a 50% to a 100%.
But then, something happened, the board of directors of the company fired him and it happened that as he left the company, almost 50% of the company’s shareholders and key investors followed him and some of the company’s staff followed him as well and sent the company from a 100% to a less than 40%.
Looking at this story, it is so obvious that there was something about the man that raised the company which has absolutely nothing to do with his position in the company.
What could this be?
The answer is INFLUENCE. The ability to influence others, to excite them enough to cause them to follow you is what makes a leader, not the position.
Your leadership ability is only as good as the influence you have on people and this in turn affects your effectiveness in life.
So you see, not everyone in a leadership position is a leader. But the truth still remains that we should strive to become leaders, leaders in our life [lead ourselves] and as well lead others.
You might not know it, but there are people who are waiting for you to lead them, waiting for you to tell them what to do, and how to do it.
So, if you don’t start leading or should I say learning how to lead, those people might never amount to anything in life. But what do I know, I’m not there God.
In essence, what I’m saying is that we should all lead. Luckily for us, this ability can be learned so, let nothing excuse you from leading, if you don’t have it, learn it.
Forget the size or the educational qualifications; leadership is all about influencing others to follow you.
Kasie Samuel