"Leadership"

The Key to Leadership

The Foremost of the Values
Winston Churchill once said, "Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it all others depend." The systematic development of the deep down quality of unflinching courage is one of the fundamental requirements for leadership in any field. Fear, or the lack of courage is more responsible for failure in management, and in life, than any other factor. It is always fear that causes people to hold back, to sell themselves short, to settle for far less than they are capable of!

Eliminate Fear and Doubt
I firmly believe that you can do, have or be far more than you now know if only you could eliminate the fear, doubts and misgivings that consciously and unconsciously interfere with your realizing your full potential.

Unlearn Your Fears
If there is anything positive about fear, it is that all fears are learned, that no one is born with fears, and that having been learned, they can be unlearned. If you want to understand the role of fear in shaping the course of your life, just ask yourself, if you had a magic wand that would absolutely guarantee you success in any one thing you attempted, what goal would you set for yourself.

The Great Question
"What one great thing would you dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?" If you had no fears at all with regard to money or the criticism of others, what would you do differently? Most people can think of all kinds of changes they would, or could, make in their lives if they had no fears to hold them back.

The Origins of Fear
The development of courage begins with understanding the psychological origins of fear. The newborn child has only two fears; the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. All other fears that we experience as adults are learned as we are growing up, primarily as the result of well-meaning but destructive criticism from our parents.

How Fears Develop
When the curious child gets into things and makes a mess, the parent scolds and punishes the child, eventually building up a pattern of fear connected with trying or getting into anything new or different. As adults, we experience this as the fear of failure, the fear of risking, of making a mistake, of losing.

Action Exercises
Here are two steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, imagine that you had no fears at all. What would you set as a goal for yourself if you were guaranteed of success?

Second, decide exactly what you want and then act as if it were impossible to fail. You may be surprised at how successful you are.

"Ten career-damaging behaviours to avoid."

1. Poor Time Management

Missing deadlines, failing to abide by agreed timelines, arriving to meetings late and generally disrespecting approved schedules is a surefire way to lose credibility and professional respect. Try to value each and every minute on the job and recognize the inefficiencies that arise from procrastination and slovenly time management and the impact these have on the organisation as a whole.

2. Failure to Deliver on Promises

A promise made should be a promise kept if your professional credibility is to remain intact. Avoid making promises you cannot deliver on. Unless you are known as someone who can be strictly depended on to follow through and deliver on time you are likely to be passed over for promotions and key assignments. When you do need more time or resources for an assignment communicate the requirement formally and professionally and manage the situation to show you are in control and will not be sacrificing on quality of delivery.

3. Poor Accountability

Accountability, a close reactive of honesty is an essential character trait in today’s workplace. Avoid becoming known as the sour apple who usurps all credit and circumvents all blame. If you have made an error, admitting to it in a timely manner avoids an unnecessary escalation, earns you the confidence and respect of those around you, and indicates professionalism, honesty and maturity.

4. Poor interpersonal skills

All research indicates that emotional intelligence and people skills are an essential ingredients for success in life and at work. Whether it is suppliers, clients, superiors, colleagues or subordinates you are dealing with the quality and success of that relationship will be largely predicated by how personable you are and how pleasant you are to interact with. If you have a reputation as someone who is difficult to work or interact with chances are people will start to avoid you and your success at mobilizing people or resources to further your goals will be severely diminished.

5. Poor team skills

A good team-player is able to work cohesively within a team framework and contribute, collaborate, communicate and challenge to meet specific goals within that framework. Inability to see beyond one’s self, work well with everyone, find the good qualities of others in the team, communicate persuasively and effectively, listen actively and attentively, give and welcome input, offer encouragement and assistance where needed and show respect, patience and courtesy inevitably leads to marginalization and failure to meet personal and professional goals.

6. Lack of ethics or professionalism

Conducting personal business on the job and any other activities that show flagrant disrespect for company time, resources and property are both unethical and unprofessional. Chatting endlessly on the job, office gossip, wasting office supplies, laying about important work-related matters, back-biting the boss, spreading office secrets, routinely bringing personal matters to the workplace all fall under this category.

7. Lack of initiative

Complacency is a surefire road to professional mediocrity. To succeed it is essential that you continue to show enthusiasm, stretch the limits, be proactive and test the boundaries in the interest of innovation. Take responsibility for your personal and professional growth and continue to build momentum in your training and profession development activities. If you chose to simply lie low and casually bide your time while others race ahead in their careers you will most probably be overlooked for promotions and plum assignments and your skills may well eventually become redundant.

8. Inability to Handle Pressure

Every job entails a certain amount of stress and pressure and failure to recognize and handle the strain may lead to a pronounced and sustained decline in performance. Learn to recognize stress and cope with it professionally and effectively. Take breaks and holidays when needed, learn to manage stress and cope with pressure so that it is not an ongoing problem for you. It may be that the pressures mounting on you are due to poor time management or delegation skills or weakness in a certain area in which case developing your skills in these areas is highly advisable.

9. Lone Ranger Syndrome

Team skills are essential in today’s marketplace as is getting along with others and communicating your accomplishments regularly and professionally. Do not try to isolate yourself and excel quietly in private as chances are your performance will not get the exposure and credit it deserves. Personal marketing and effective relationship management are key to career success. Aim to regularly and professionally communicate your private coups to your manager and others in a position to help your career advancement and do not assume your great work and personal victories will automatically get noticed and given the credit they deserve.

10. Stasis

You may well be in your comfort zone and doing very well there but if you don’t challenge yourself in pursuit of further growth and development and continuously move forward and upward you may lose your equilibrium sooner than you expected. Have a vision in mind as pertains to your career and formulate a clear strategy and timeline for getting there which you can regularly benchmark and measure yourself against. Continuous learning, development and self-improvement is a necessity not a luxury for today’s ambitious professional and it is imperative that you keep abreast of the latest trends, tools and technologies in your field and not risk losing ground to the star performers who take personal growth more seriously.

"Awakening the society of the World"

Are the leaders that we had brought to the position to lead our countries,do really deserve the trust we had given them?Can they really lead a country & have a good governance?

Are they being a good examples to their countries?Are they really capable of the responsibilities that a good leader should implicate to the country that they are governing?or they are just in the public office for personal interest & power grabbing....what are their true intentions!are we aware about it?How can we identify a good leader?This are just some of the questions that we should know the answer a responsible citizens of our respective countries.

But first let me introduce myself I'm Rinrin from the PHILIPPINES & proud to be a filipina.I'm just a regular citizen & I have no plans to enter politics...I'm not aspiring any position in the public office either...I'm just a concerned citizen who just want to share my views about certain topics that affects the lives of many people bec. of negligence of the leaders that we had trusted to lead & govern our countries.I believe that in sighting my views maybe,just maybe i can contribute something to the world that has been blinded for so long....for them being a leader is POWER but it should not be this way if you really want to serve your country,you should share yourself by putting your heart in the service not getting what you can & abuse the priviledges.

Let's face it! Politics is a dirty business not the politics itself but the people who are abusing their power for personal gain.Do these leaders really know what they are doing?To tell you frankly, we really don't need a President & a Prime Minister who graduated from University of Harvard or have 5 masteral degrees bec. governing a country is not all about business!It is about the welfare of their countrymen.A good leader should analyzed every aspect of a problem & a good leader is not afraid & willing to step down his/her position if the situation calls for it.A good leader should always think the benefit of the greater good.A good leader should try his best to solve the root of the problem not just applying a temporary solution,if only our leaders put their hearts in their positions & really love their job then we will have a better place to live in..less violence, a more progressive country.A good leader is willing to accept his/her mistakes & willing to step down his/her position if there will be intances that the situation calls for it.A good leader is always ready to lend a hand to his countrymen not just to those they can bebefit but they should more focus to the less fortunate not by giving them food but by teaching them how to succeed in life. A good leader should have a strong dignity & principles so that he cannot be manipulated by others who want to take advantage his position . No Leaders should provoke or start a war or any kind of violence . To name in particular...like President George Bush of United States of America . I think he is not analyzing his decisions wisely,he is acting without thinking,maybe he is thinking but where he is coming from?I think from nowhere.....Starting a war is absurd!war is just a waste of money & come to think of the innocent lives that has been taken for....the fact ,it just started with two leaders who are selfish & inconsiderate ,they'll convince their followers that they are fighting for a reason.The problem is their reasons are not clear & not logical to start a war.I dare to those leaders that if they are really brave enough & claim to love their country & men, they should lead their troops not just commanding them to fight for your own idiot beliefs...you should join them in the battle to kill innocent lives,if that is really what you want . Bush is the President of America that is considered to be the most powerful & influential country.He should be analytical in all his decision-making.I know that it is still fresh in our memories,the tragic event that happened in U.S ,the Sept.11 terrorist attack(World Trade Center)I'm not an american but i got really affected emotionally by the tragedy that killed thousands of innocent people.