Develop Leadership Skills - Are You A Leader of The Future?

With anything in life if you develop leadership skills this will have a profound effect on your business and your personal life. Leaders are born and made and all leaders are different plus you will not become a leader overnight.

One of the things that a leader must do is have the ability to make decision and sometimes those decisions could well be unpopular but they have to be made. One of the skills is learning how to motivate people who may not like the decision being made.

This is a valuable skill and it will add confidence to a leader's ability which in turn will make them more effective as a leader. Leaders must be allowed to learn from their mistakes and encouraged to make decision where if there is an error it is looked on as a learning curve rather than the end of the world.

To develop leadership skills you must become a student as your education will play a vital role in how you perform as a leader. As with anything you must study different leadership styles and educate yourself to improve your leadership skills.

Understanding how to effectively communicate with different personality types will great increase your success as a leader. All people are different with different wants needs and desires so understanding how to talk with them will also help you in motivating them.

One of the biggest issues facing leaders is the fact they don't take into account different people's personality and each person needs to be communicated with in a different manner. This is what makes people want to follow certain people, they feel that the leader has connected with them on a personal level.

Also don't think that just one personality type makes the best leaders, far from it all personality types makes great leaders because they all bring something different to the table. Different personality types will all have their strengths and weakness.

An example of this would be a controller personality where they will be very direct when talking to you and can come across as aggressive even if they are not, they will also have a lot of confidence and be extremely sure about themselves.

Another will be a thinker type personality where they will spend time analysing a problem before making a decision but they will tend to be very approachable put you at ease. Both have strengths and weaknesses but both can make fantastic leaders.

To develop leadership skills takes time and education and if you are willing to put in the effort then you can be a great leader.

Some of the leadership I have found online to help with my education if from My Lead System Pro where you will learn from the industry leaders the exact formula they use to grow their business everyday.

When you develop leadership skills you will naturally attract people into your business. And by following the training above you will have the right tools and training to pass onto other.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article. Tristram Lodge

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Leadership Coaching: Leadership Thinking Skills And Goal-Setting

The Leader's Eyes and Ears to the Future

Thoughts can create great things. In leadership, thinking skills are crucial. The thoughts of a leader create vision, and vision creates goals. A leader's thinking skills are thus directional skills. It sets the road map that his people will have to follow to get to their destination. Leadership vision, goal and purpose are created by the leader's thinking skills. Without a vision, a goal or a purpose, there is no leadership.

As a leader, you need sharp and intuitive thinking skills. These will serve as your eyes and ears to the future. With the keen sense of your mind, you will be able to recognize the need for change and the means to make it happen. The power of your thinking and your mind will make you more capable to implement and manage change.

An organization that wants to go far needs to have a strong vision of where it will be in the future. Your great task as a leader is to make your people trust you and believe in your vision. Be honest and fair in all you do as a leader so that you will gain the trust of your people. Display dynamism, confidence and a positive attitude so that you can sell your followers on your vision. People want to be under the wing of a winning company. They need to feel a strong sense of vision of where they are going. Otherwise, if they feel that the company they work for is heading towards a dead end, they're apt to renege. Their loyalty will falter and they will eventually opt out. A leader needs his people, because it's his people that will get him to his goal.

Effective Goal- Setting

Good leadership knows effective goal setting. There are 4 characteristics of goal setting:
Goal difficulty - challenge your employees and enhance their effort in doing their tasks by giving them difficult goals. Difficult goals result to increased performance, but see to it that they are feasible. If the goals you set are too high, your employees are likely to fail in achieving them and they become discouraged.
Goal specificity - employees perform higher if they understand what they should accomplish. Give specific goals; avoid ambiguity about your expectations.
Feedback - goal setting becomes more effective if you provide feedback. Direct your employee's behavior on the right target by giving performance feedback. This will encourage them and boost their performance.
Involvement in goal- setting- allowing employees to participate in goal setting makes them set higher goals than if the goals are set for them. This increases their belief that the goals are obtainable and they become more motivated in working to achieve them.

By the way, do you want to learn more about leadership in your company? If so, download your FREE eBook here: Guide to Elegant Courage Leadership

Jodi and Mike specialize in executive coaching with individuals and teams. http://lighthouse-leadership.com/

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How to Develop Charismatic Leadership Skills

Although there is a shortage of effective leaders in the marketplace, there is even more of a shortage of charismatic leaders. The recent death of Apple's Steve Jobs not only represented an end of an era, but the passing of a charismatic leader who made technology attractive. To be able to add personality to inanimate objects could only stem from the imagination of a charismatic leader. However, there are a few things an aspiring leader can cultivate in developing charismatic leadership skills.

1. These leaders are great innovators. Innovation comes through having a preternatural curiosity about how systems work and uncovering the gaps that make systems less efficient. Using Jobs as an example, he saw that Pop culture was influencing the behavior of individuals. Although technology had to have a utilitarian value attached to it, it also needed to be attractive and engaging. Taking cues from the fashion, entertainment, and automotive industries, charismatic leaders discover the latent desires of consumers and fulfill these desires with objects of affection. To develop your charisma, passionately focus on a challenge within your industry and turn solving problems into a mission. You will gain a following by evangelizing, writing, and developing practical solutions to problems.

2. Charismatic leaders are introspective. Charismatic leaders spend a lot of time reading, thinking, and synthesizing disparate ideas. Although, charismatic leaders are viewed as "great people" persons, a lot of their time is spent pondering ideas in solitude. These leaders define themselves by their performance. In the movie, "A Beautiful Mind" with Russell Crowe, John Nash had an insatiable desire to create an idea that would gain him recognition and distinction. Many charismatic leaders are similarly motivated. By pondering and sharing the ideas of personal unresolved and unfulfilled aspirations, charismatic leaders become more engaging to adoring participants. By spending more time reveling in the field of ideas, you become more imaginative and heroic in your pursuits.

3. Charismatic leaders speak with specificity. Although these leaders are noted for passionate and effective oratory, it is their ability to speak with specificity and detail that makes them magnetic. By providing clear, precise, and practical information, employees are able to see their role in an overarching vision. If you begin breaking a mission down step-by-step with passionate oratory that speaks to the long term manifestation of an idea, you will not only free the employee of ambiguity, you will inspire the employee to create options to the mission you may not have considered. In the end, clear and concise communication is used as a motivational device.

Steve Jobs created Apple using many of these traits. If you see your role on the world's stage as either transformational or merely trying to positively affect your department, using the strategies of charismatic leaders will allow you to have an edge within your industry.

Edward Brown, M.S., is a researcher and lead instructor for Core Edge Image & Charisma Institute, Inc., which teaches clients how to profit and lead their industry by developing charisma. He is the author of nine books including: Image, Power & Charisma, Power Moves for Those with Limited Cash, Clout & Connections, and Principles of Charismatic Leadership: The Missing Link...

Brown is the host for the online talk show Charisma Live and Editor of the blog, Charisma Today. He has advanced legal training from the University of Dayton School of Law and a master's degree from Mercer University in Leadership Development.

http://www.core-edge.com/

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Powerful Leadership - 5 Crucial Skills Required to Become a Great Leader!

Powerful leadership requires a commitment to developing key personal skills and abilities. Great leaders must have a driving desire to make things happen. If you want to be the head and not the tail, then you must fine tune key leadership skills in order to become effective so that others will want to follow.

Some people are born with natural talents that lend themselves to becoming a great leader. But despite the fact that you may have been born with some of these talents, it still takes continual enthusiasm, drive, and experience for true development as a leader to occur.

5 Crucial Skills Needed to Become a Great Leader

1. Vision

Leaders need to know the vision of their group or organization. They must have a clear sense of purpose. Knowing the organization's goals and objectives, how the organization works, and being able to communicate the vision to others, helps put everyone on the same page.

Leaders need to help others catch a personal vision of the big picture, so that everyone is moving in the same direction on the road to success.

2. Encouragement

Leadership is not about using harassment or fear as a driving force to get others to take action. Great leaders encourage others to accomplish the goals of the group. Encouragement is contagious and it benefits everyone when it is flowing freely.

3. Trust

Trustworthiness is vital to great leadership. Your followers must have trust and confidence in you. And if they do, they will go to great lengths for you and the group.

Strong relationships, trustworthiness, and high ethics build trust and confidence. Leaders that deal with people in a positive way, lay a foundation of strength for the group. Stronger relationships equal a stronger measure of trust and confidence in the capabilities of the leader.

4. Communication

Communication is crucial skill of a leader. You must be able to clearly communicate the goals and objectives that you are all about to undertake as an organization. A leader's vision and plan must be clearly communicated to others in order to keep everyone on the same page.

5. Judgment

Great leaders have great judgment. If you want to grow as a leader, you must continue to improve and develop your judgment and decision making skills.

Leaders need to make wise decisions in a variety of situations. Your followers will come to rely on your judgment. Good, wise decision making is crucial to the success of a leader and the organization.

Keep in mind: In life we all eventually find ourselves in a leadership role, in some shape or form, big or small. And the Lord wants to see His children become strong leaders and He gives them instructions and tells them how they can be.

"And the LORD shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if that you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God to observe and to do them." -- Deuteronomy 28:13

Conclusion: Leaders lead. Leaders have followers and you're not much of a leader if no one is following. Being a great leader is about constantly growing, developing, and setting an example, because you are a reflection of what your followers must be. Develop these five crucial skills and demonstrate powerful leadership.

May you develop your skills to grow into a powerful, effective leader and experience much growing prosperity!

And now, get a Free life changing "How to Attract Prosperity" download. Plus enjoy Christian and Self-Improvement Resources along with Motivational Videos and a Meditation Podcast.

Check this out: http://www.growingprosperity.com/.

B.K. Smith seeks to provide resources to help you prosper in all areas of life - including your spirit, soul, body, finances, and relationships.

Original article

Ten Ways to Increasing Your Leadership Skills

Back in my Marine Corps days we were taught that if you wanted to lead, then set the example for others. One of the main criteria of a good leader is to help develop other leaders. And that includes teaching them how to be a leader.

Leadership is not a role or a title. A true leader makes the decisions that others don't want to make or is simply willing to step up when necessary in a given situation. They understand it's about the mission and not about themselves. Leaders will come in all sizes and shapes. There is not one size fits all. While there are those that still believe that leaders are born. I'm here to tell you that is simply not true. Leaders can be developed and taught certain skills.

For those of you that are already leaders or wanting to increase your skills as one, then here are my top ten ways to do just that.

1. Do public speaking. Not only will public speaking increase your awareness to others, it'll also increase your confidence as a leader. You can take a course, such as one run by a Dale Carnegie Associate or simply join a local Toastmasters International club in your area. Both of these are great in developing one's public speaking skills.

2. Learn verbal communication skills. This is where being able to effectively communicate to another person and influence them. Unlike public speaking, this is communication where listening is more important than talking. Dr. Tony Alessandra talks about understanding others through his Platinum Rule. "Do unto others as they would like be done unto." It's the same as Dale Carnegie described in his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

3. Learn how to write more effectively. Just like verbal communication, writing effectively is a key to delivering your message. The most effective writers are the ones that keep it simple & tight, use analogies and don't use industry lingo.

4. Make more decisions, whether right or wrong. This important for growth. In fact, the more mistakes you make, the more you'll grow. You simply learn how to make adjustments so you don't do the same ones again. Never fear making a mistake.

5. Become a reader and learner. It's been said that leaders are readers. If you think you know it all, then you'll never learn to lead. Leaders are never satisfied with they are at. They look to progress and improve. It's constant. Once you stop growing, then you'll stop being a leader.

6. Associate with leaders in various industries and areas of life. It could be a religious leader, a political leader, a business leader, or any other kind of leader. You'll learn from each one. And that's important. You might even want to create a mastermind with some.

7. Learn to appreciate more. Leaders have a way of appreciating where they are, but are never satisfied. That's one of the reasons true leaders continue to grow. Also, learn to appreciate those you lead and show them that you do.

8. Learn to look at the big picture (strategic thinking) and the small things (tactical thinking). See how each fits with each other. Create your own personal mission statement. That way you'll learn to see how a mission statement for your organization can be better created. Remember, you have to take in consideration others. Additionally, learn to look at the details. This will be important so you'll be able to develop tactics necessary to accomplish the mission.

9. Learn to delegate. The skill of delegation is important to the development of leaders in others as well as focusing on your strengths and letting others take over where you are weak at. Knowing yourself is very important in this aspect of leadership. Be honest in this area.

10. Self-care is important. Leaders must be healthy and fit in order to best lead. Also, this sets the example of others to follow. By doing this, you'll start to really care about yourself as a leader and what that represents.

I wish you the best as you work to develop the skill necessary to make you an effective leader.

Check out Optimal Life Seminars today! Just go to optimallifeseminars.com for learning and more... Watch for upcoming events and seminars...

Bob Choat works as a Peak Performance Coach & Trainer and is focused on people in every industry reach a higher level in their lives.

Call 818-620-2494 for coaching/training

bobchoat.com

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