Life’s 360° Leaders
Sunday, December 16th, 2007Recollecting those days when I was all socked up in books on leadership, the one I read that will never escape my mind [anytime soon] was “The 360° leader” by John C.Maxwell. This days I’m often more involved technical books and situations but it always comes in handy to be a person who commands respect, gives respect and follows respect - who doesn’t like that feeling? Come along then.
As much as we may think that it isn’t much of anything, or some may think, it’s much of an ease, almost everyone today have little or no sense of commanding respect(s). I’m not refering to respect one gets by default from being in a position of authority but respect in terms of how much of it you’ve earned by the virtue of how much you have given which I present here that you can lead irrespective of your position in any group.
Being respected, someone whom when you talk, people have a sense to listen, everyone thinks you exclusionary, you are watched and often imitated - in short, you command: Respect! I will, for the sake of making this explanatory, exclude the set of people who are in position of authority who are regardless, respected. I intend to address a regular person, one who isn’t satisfied with being pushed around, or for some reason has lost a sense of self-worth.
The act of gaining respect lies on just one principle, this principle is golden: “Give and it will be given back to you.” This means that when you give respect, respect will be given back to you - no more, no less. When one can get around gaining respect, it will get clearer how one can lead irrespective of one’s position in whatever situation you find yourself.
Few considerations:
1. Your Acts: Looking after one’s acts is a must. The way you conduct yourself, your dressing (more on this later), your reaction to situations and those little acts of courtesy that we think doesn’t count. People watch and unconsciously judge you based on this and will unconsciously determine if you deserve their time, merit and importantly, respect or maybe not. Some practical tips include, always appearing calm and composed, listening attentively to others and giving valuable feedback, allowing people’s rude actions pass and the likes.
2. Your Talks: What can ruin or make one as fast as one’s talks? None! It is important that one watches his/her talks. Don’t try to “be cool” by talking carelessly, those careless talks that we make and really think aren’t of significance can build up and gradually act against one. As words, once spoken, cannot be taken back. This in turn should make anyone willing to be a 360° leader re-think, re-evaluate, weigh cause and effects of what will be said. Most importantly, as a rule, leaders are listeners and not talkers. The more you take your time to listen to others, talk less, people will value more and more of your opinion when you tend to give one. Everyone values more of what is less - use this principle in your favor. Who doesn’t like a little bit of mystery?
3. Your Composition: While almost all the “leader’s-acts” I will state comes down to composition, I will prefer to give one’s composition as your outward appearance. Believe it or not, the way one dresses, speaks loudest (at least before personal encounters and talks). At all times, a leader would give proper attention to his/her appearance, the kind of dress you wear should be decent (both in price and looks), one should dress to suit occasion and in modesty. These situation include - those around you, where you intend to appear and your persona. (Leaders often prefer less attention than too much; little wonder they are often dressed in lighter wears than bright, flashy ones).
4. Your Intellect: It’s a most, leaders must be sharp and intelligent. Fortunately, everyone has the potential to be both sharp and intelligent (except in extreme cases where this might not be feasible). To get to this potential, a prospective leader must at all times assume that he/she is ignorant, always constantly needing to learn. In this case, the saying that “a mind that stops learning is a dying mind,” is the leader’s motto. Seeking ways to improve one’s knowledge could include, listening to great minds, learning from humans (there is so much lessons to learn in this life that it’s just so impossible to learn it all yourself), reading books, writing and other ways to continuously seek knowledge.
5. Your Simplicity: A leader has to be simple and modest by default. Since most leaders are usually the best around their mates, they are usually more accomplished and more focused, there’s usually a strong tendency for them to get immodest (proud?) in their conduct. This, differentiates the boys from the men. Irrespective of their achievements, 360° leaders don’t and never think they are better than anyone else - they have the general mindset that whatever they have is a service to someone else, it’s a privilege not a right and one they have a duty to serve with.
6. Your Thoughts: To catch a monkey, you have to think (and act) like a monkey. Likewise, to be a leader, you have to think (and act) like one. Most (if not all) actions first place of occurrence is on our mind. Any prospective leader most train his/her mind to continuously think like a leader, hence act accordingly (even copying another accomplished leader’s act). So, how exactly is thinking like a leader? A leader solves problems no one else is interested in, they act unconventional, they think of themselves as servants who can influence people by serving them, most importantly, they think of their neighbor’s best interest.
7. Your Life: For a leader, her life is a book before everyone’s eyes. Which means, one must consider every step taken exemplary. No time wasted or unnecessary aforementioned abrupt behaviors. Most accomplished leaders have so trained their minds that it’s almost impossible for them to waste their time, there is always something to fill the time. This takes lots of discipline and denial, but the pay-off is great, no doubt.
8. Your Time: Time, it is said, is the soul of business. A prospective or I’d say a 360°leader knows that every moment in time wasted is one less chance to set him/her-self apart from the rest. A leader considers it his soul concern to account for her time, as spent in productivity.
360° leadership is not about the way you can command people and have them “fear” you, it’s a respect earned that gives you the privilege to lead anyone, anywhere irrespective of your position in your company, school, organization or any other relative settings.
Anyone can be a leader, it’s a status that should be converted and earned, statutory privilege aside, - through service and diligence to others with a taming of one’s own self.
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Disclaimer: This is is no way a summary of John Maxwell’s book. Maxwell approached leadership from quite a different perspective though driving towards the same end.
