http://www.donmacnaughton.org Zoned in Performance is a business consultancy specialising in leadership development and performance psychology. Tue, 07 Sep 2010 15:58:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.donmacnaughton.org/leadership-principles-to-apply-for-everybody/ http://www.donmacnaughton.org/leadership-principles-to-apply-for-everybody/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 04:33:57 +0000 admin http://zonedinperformance.wordpress.com/?p=45 You know, often when I’m talking to people about leadership issues, many will write the topic off because they just don’t believe they are a leader.
There is a common misperception out there that leaders are people in well paying, executive jobs. In other words, people just think that to be a leader, you must be in a corporate career.
But the fact of the matter is that leadership is something each one of us has at some point in time.
Examples of everyday leaders
If you are in a partnership with a spouse, if you have children, if you have friends, if you have relatives…there are many non work-related situations where you need to take on those attributes of good leaders.
I have an excellent quote that I have loved for a long time that really brings the whole leadership topic down to the earth level. Here’s what it says:
“If I accept you as who you are, I will make you worse; however if I treat you as though you are what you are capable of becoming, I help you become that.”
That quote came from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe – many of you may have heard of him, but for those who haven’t, he was a German natural philosopher who was also a novelist, playwright, diplomat and poet.
Read that quote again, because what it says really is amazing.
It basically says that for us to be great leaders…
…we must see the potential in other people!
Think about your really great friends. Chances are, they are people who encourage you in everything you do! They are people who are there to help you achieve those things you really want to achieve in your life.
They treat you as though you are capable of becoming – just as Goethe said!
Great friends do this, and great bosses, parents and spouses do as well.
Recognising one’s potential is the attribute of a great leader, but as you can see, it’s also a great attribute when it comes to our personal relationships as well.
It’s all about believing in other people and acting and saying things in accordance with that.
If we open our eyes to this great leadership attribute and start implementing it in all of our interpersonal relationships TODAY, it’s amazing what effect it will have both on yourself and on everybody you know.
Believing in other people is contagious as well. If you really give somebody else encouragement, it makes them feel great! And then they will do the same to somebody else, who in turn will feel great and pass it onto others.
You don’t have to be a high flying executive in a suit to start implementing great leadership qualities like this one. Try it today and put it to the test!

]]> http://www.donmacnaughton.org/leadership-principles-to-apply-for-everybody/feed/ 0