Step Up To The Plate And Become A Leader

By David Hurley

If you want to establish yourself as a successful Internet marketer, one of the first things that you need to do is to turn yourself into a leader, grow a team, develop success mentoring skills and inspire everybody to emulate you!

I guess that most people see leadership as something that others perform while they watch passively on the sidelines. Most people do not see themselves as leaders, even those who want to do better for themselves in the future. Yet developing leadership skills is probably the single most important thing that you can do to get ahead and achieve your goals. Scurrying away from the challenges of leadership is exactly the reaction that stops people from getting ahead in life.

If you aspire to achieve ambitious goals, then no matter what your goals are, you'll find that becoming a leader is essential to your basic personal development and growth towards achieving those goals.

When you are striving towards leadership, you will find that one of the first things that you have to do is to take responsibility.

Stepping up to the plate and taking responsibility as a leader is not so difficult once you commit yourself to doing it. Decision making is one of the keys to leadership, but to make good decisions you need the right information. But don't imagine that every leader starts out with the information already in front of him.

Another aspect of leadership is taking the initiative to find out what you need to know. To do that it is good to build a list of reliable contacts. They could be people who you admire on various forums, or the writers of newsletters that you subscribe to. So, even if you do not have enough information to make a decision at the outset, you'll find that getting the information you need can be quite easy.

So don't let a lack of knowledge prevent you from becoming a leader.

If you aspire to leadership you need to make sure that your voice is clearly heard. It is more than likely that if you are thinking it, then other people are as well. You will find that you are not the only one who holds your opinion. Part of being a leader is making sure that your opinion is given weight.

Once you become a leader, you will find that your gaze will extend itself over a much wider horizon. You will see things much more clearly. Your new standpoint will enable you to consider things that you never considered before, and see things in a new perspective.

Seeing further than before, you will be able to go further than before, and take your growing band of followers with you.

David Hurley is an Internet marketer who is based in Japan and is the owner of Grasp-The-Nettle.com, which focuses on success mentoring for Internet marketing start-ups. Get your own work-from-home Internet business set up free and find out how you can build an online business at: http://grasp-the-nettle.com .

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What Is A Good Leader?

By Len Roe

There are leaders and then there are leaders. In our place of work, in our group memberships and even at our churches and functions we have a leader. Sometimes more than one. If we are lucky, we might even have a good one.

Every one of us are leader material. We all have the ability to assume the position of leadership. We do it every day. We lead our children in the direction we feel is right. We lead our family and in most cases, do a fine job of it. Some of us lead in those church or organization.

The point is, we all have the ability. It is up to us to develop our leadership skills. If we don't let the position go to our heads we can master our skill and become extraordinary leaders.

What is it that makes one leader exceptional and does nothing for another? Sergeants and Lieutenants in the military are promoted into leadership positions but it doesn't mean that they are true leaders. One man or woman may be chosen to head a committee, but again, that doesn't mean that they are true leaders. Some people are placed it the leadership position simply because they know the product or situation.

I have had leaders who barked out an order or command and expected an immediate and absolute response. This type of leader uses fear and intimidation as their weapon. They intimidate you with the fear of losing your job or position and the fear of being demoted or given the dirty job if you don't do as you are told. This is not leadership, it is only a command position.

Some of our leaders are actually afraid of us. They fear that we will outshine them. They fear that we will do the job well and be recognized for accuracy and our ability. They fear that if we do good their roll as leader may be in danger of replacement. Possibly by those they were supposed to lead.

These leaders will do everything they can for you as long as you don't exceed the limits they set for you. They will put you down, belittle you and try hard to keep you in your place.

They have the fear that if you do good they may not be needed and that is a hard thing for them to accept. These are the people who will discourage you from doing what you may feel is good for the benefit of the group or company. As long as you follow orders and don't try anything new or that they didn't think of first they will be there for you in every way. This may be a leader that can get things done, but it is NOT a TRUE leader.

If this leader were as good as he or she thinks there would be no need for fear. The fear that someone you have been teaching will do better than you have done only says that you feel inferior in the roll of group leader. If you lead your people well and one of them begins to sparkle it reflects on your own performance. In short, make those you lead sparkle and shine. You will appear as more of a star than you ever could by holding them back.

There is also the type of leader who just happened to be at the right place at the right time. This leader doesn't really care about the job or position. He just happened to be handy when the need was there. He usually doesn't have much backbone and will waver in his orders, not knowing which decision is the right decision. I have known many of this type.

This one will tell you one thing and before you can get it done he has changed his mind and wants it done another way. He will also show favoritism among his employees. Allowing some to get away with murder and others will be reprimanded for almost nothing. He will also belittle his employees in front of customers and think nothing of cutting the company down and discussing company problems and confidential matters with a total stranger.

If you are on the good side of this leader, and if he likes you, you have it made, but if his superior says something about your work or performance it is rare that he will stand up for you. I know one such leader that will even allow one of his employees, and a good buddy, to consume alcoholic beverages while on duty. All he asks of the employee is that he be discrete. That leader is only in it for the ride, not the long haul.

What then, is a good leaders qualities?

A good leader is one who cares for you as both a person and an employee and also cares for the company he is representing. A good leader can get the job done and have happy employees in the process. He will exude an attitude that will inspire the group and build enthusiasm. He will encourage everyone under his command. If he has a complaint or problem with an employee this will be taken care of behind closed doors, not on the sales floor or in front of customers or even fellow employees.

When I was in the Army I had officers who barked out orders through intimidation. Their orders were carried out, but without enthusiasm or respect. However, there was one lowly little corporal who was a natural leader. He would never demand anything. He would never ask anyone to do anything he wouldn't do himself and everyone knew it. By simply asking "when you get a moment would you" or "when you finish that would you" he gained the respect due any officer. This simple little corporal received more respect and got more accomplished through consideration of his fellow man than any officer.

This leader would always listen to suggestions and comments and take them into consideration. He would always encourage and never demean. If there were a problem it would be discussed in private. Never in front of other people. If there were suggestions for improvement or another way of accomplishing a task, he was interested in what you had to say. If he didn't think it would work, he would give you the reason he felt the way he did. As a true leader he was open to being lead, even by those he was leading.

His attitude inspired me and I attempted to copy his style. On many occasions I have found myself in a leadership position and used the principals he taught me.

Through this type of leadership I have successfully managed several situations including my current endeavor of network marketing.

In my current position I have several leaders with which I work each day. Most of them are good leaders and are open to suggestions. Most of the suggestions have already been tried and were proven ineffective, but they were still open and would explain why something was or was not a good idea.

We should always edify our leaders and our leaders should edify us. If we edify each other this leads to belief and belief is the key to all success. I will repeat, we should edify our leaders, but our leaders should also edify us.

I can recall one time that this did not happen and it caused some slight problems. There was a person I wanted to get involved in a business of mine. I had talked to this person and he was ready to become involved, however, I wanted one of my leaders to also speak with him and get to know him. After all, he would be working with us both.

My leader was on a business trip into Northern California and stopped by to visit with this particular person and discuss business procedures. During the course of conversation my leader made some derogatory comments against me. My future partner became highly agitated and asked the man to please leave his home and not to come back. Needless to say, he did not become my partner. The sad part about this is that my future partner was also my own son.

A good leader will always edify you as much as you edify him. He, or she, will encourage you to do well and to try new things. He will also be there to back you up or help you up, whichever the case may be.

If you are a true leader your people will know it without you flaunting your position. They will know it by your actions and attention to details and also by your willingness to help them top succeed. Even if they are getting better than you had thought they could. That is a sign that you have become an exceptional leader.

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How You Can Become A Better Leader

By Bill Bergfeld

In the midst of the recent economic downturn and the blatantly noticeable upward surge in my operating costs, I sat staring at my office walls wondering how I was going to pay the bills this month. Just when I thought I had everything figured out; I discovered that I did not have anything figured out. Six months earlier, I was riding high, thought I understood everything and yet now I had to admit...I did not. That is when one of the most important life lessons hit me. That lesson being: True leadership matures when challenged. We become better leaders when, and only when, we face difficult situations. By working through the impossible, we acquire the wisdom to successfully lead our organization through the unimaginable.

Now I am not going to make you believe that I have figured it all out, because I have not. I am going to give you my perspective on leadership and how we mature in our leadership style as business challenges come our way.

Great minds still argue about the nomenclature assigned to leadership styles. In no way am I down playing their work or their nomenclature in what I am about to discuss. I am simply apologizing in advance if I ruffle some feathers.

Probably the most basic style of leadership is what I call the Boss Hog. Here is the guy with a title, a clipboard, and a desk. If we had to describe his primary style, it would be that he is task focused. He has been given an assignment from his superiors and he will do everything in his power to make sure it gets done. For him, there are three ways of doing things, the right way, the wrong way, and the Boss Hog way. He is a positional leader meaning that his followers only do what he says because he has the authority to remove them from the group (fire them if you understand what I mean). He acts decisively, he is focused on the end result, he is determined, he is consistent, and he is reliable (sounds like my German Shepherd). Unfortunately, he does have some shortcomings; he is very impatient often to the point of being rude and abrupt; he is hard headed, stubborn, and slow to change; since he is always right, he almost never listens to suggestions from subordinates; and he seems to value manual effort more than wisdom. The Boss Hog leader tells people what to do - that is his style of leadership.

The second style of leadership is what I call the Lead Cow. (Yes I know that the term cow refers to the female of the bovine species, but for this discussion Lead Cow has no gender.) Here is the guy with a title, a clipboard, a desk, an office, and a file cabinet. If we had to describe his primary style, it would be that he is goal focused. He has been given a vision from his superiors, he sets goals to accomplish that vision, and he translates those goals into tasks for his Boss Hog subordinates. The Lead Cow is more of a coach than a boss. He is most often team oriented, he usually accomplishes things methodically and logically, and he is quite accomplished at delegation. He values teaching and often times involves himself in the actual work of a project in order to instruct his subordinates on the how of doing things correctly. Far too often, his goals are too lofty, unrealistic, and overly ambitious and because of this he places too much responsibility on his subordinates. The Lead Cow leader shows people what to do - that is his style of leadership.

The third style of leadership is what I call the Horse Trader. Here is the guy with a title, a clipboard, a desk, a corner office, two file cabinets, and a secretary. If we had to describe his primary style, it would be that he is group focused. This guy is a people person. He gets along with everyone. He is very smart. He avoids risk and he embraces caution. His strongest allies are his openness to change, his willingness to listen, and his ability to think on his feet. No matter what is thrown his way, he seems to come up with the necessary resources to handle it. His tendency toward caution can prevent him from taking advantage of opportunities. He seems to sometimes get trapped in paralysis by analysis meaning he is indecisive. He confuses leadership with popularity and because of such; his organizational skills and his ability to accomplish goals suffer. He works best if he has several Lead Cows on his team. The Horse Trader leader negotiates with people on what to do - that is his style of leadership.

The fourth style of leadership is what I call the Melting Pot. Here is the guy that basically has it all - a title, a clipboard, a desk, a corner office, two file cabinets, a secretary, and a private parking space. If we had to describe his primary style, it would be that he is the go-to guy. He is the man with the plan. He is the source of all ideas. He is an innovator, a creator, and a visionary. He seems to have a sixth sense about leadership acting intuitively more than logically or methodically. He is charismatic, personable, confident, and influential. He amazes subordinates with big ideas and infects them with enthusiasm. Risk means nothing to him. Spontaneity is his motto. His biggest weakness is his next big idea. Because of this, he is easily distracted and often times lacks follow through on projects. But, that does not matter, he can motivate. He can enlist the Horse Traders to tell people what needs to be done, enlist the Lead Cows to show people what needs to be done, and enlist the Boss Hogs to make sure it all gets done correctly.

If you look at these leadership styles, you are tempted to determine which one fits you best. The answer is simple - none of them. Everyone has a leadership style that is a mixture of these four types. The real question you should ask is not which style am I - but how can I become a better leader?

First of all, learn to listen. Listen to your subordinates, your leaders, leaders in other organizations, leaders in other industries, your customers, your potential customers. Just learn to listen. One thing for sure, if you are always talking, then you are always listening to the things that you already know. Listening is a scary thing. You might actually hear the truth about your shortcomings and your weaknesses. Without knowing the truth about your weaknesses, you could continue down a path of failure recognizing it only too late.

Second, learn to be enthusiastic. Enthusiastic, not only in your actions, but also in your words, the way you communicate with your team. Be enthusiastic in your thinking; have a mental pep-rally. Be enthusiastically encouraging, gracious, thankful, and forgiving with one another. If you are not enthusiastic, then you are automatically depressed - failure focused - hopeless.

Third, learn to be men and women of character. Do what you say and say what you will do. Honor your commitments to your friends, your family, your work, and your faith. Keep your promises. Hold loyalty sacred. Give more than asked. Take less than offered. Empower others, helping them to achieve. Do right and despise wrong. Care for others. Look to serve instead of waiting to be served.

Finally, be willing. Willing to step up to the plate, bat in hand, and swing at the strikes. You do not have to be perfect, you only need to hit safely 3 times out of 10. A 300 batting average seems to pay quite well these days.

Bill Bergfeld is a professional Network Marketer and owner of multiple businesses. His passion is leadership; his current online project involves aging and methods of reversing its affects. You can contact Bill at bill@billbergfeld.com

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