“If everyone would sweep their own doorstep, the whole world would be clean” – Mother Teresa
Usually when we see the term “LEADERSHIP” what comes to our minds is the TITLES we have to show our leadership skills. However the above quote by Mother Teresa – who devoted her life to caring for the sick and poor; beautifully summarizes the concept of Leadership that we ought to understand. Mother Teresa had identified her calling to devote her life to the needy and poor. Her calling got translated into actions to help the poor. She began an open-air school and established a home for the dying destitute.
This concept of leading without a title reminds me of another great lady (a young girl) who fought for the rights of girls in a so called regressive mindset society. Yes you guessed it rightly. Malala Yousafzai – the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She grew up in the north west Pakistan, where girls were often banned from attending school by the Taliban. But this didn’t stop Malala from pursuing her dreams. She became a vocal supporter of female education. She also got shot by Taliban gunman three times in the head in an assassination attempt. That incident provoked worldwide outrage, and in Pakistan, it led to ratification of the Right to Education Bill.
Indeed, we are just one decision away from taking a path of self-leadership and fight against all odds to pursue the desire to be involved and the commitment to make a positive difference. Having no titles is an excuse we give to ourselves to escape the possibility of being out best at anything and everything.
In theater, they say “no role is a small role” same applies to the LIFE also. The fast changing times of today call for a revolutionary change in the concept of leadership – where each and every person gets up to show leadership potential. To take full responsibility of results, to be positive and devote their absolute best in whichever field they work.
Leaders are those individuals who do the things that failures are unwilling to do – even if they don’t like it – that’s called commitment! Ultimately trivial things like – how much wealth you amassed, how many promotions you received, things like net worth, social titles become meaningless. Th Six-Feet Rule truly explains this. Whether you are a CEO or a carpenter or a street cleaner, all you need a six feet land to be buried after death. CEO gets buried next to the street cleaner.
Isn’t it the irony of life that we still run after material things so much that we forget our inner leader – our awesomeness to be the best at everything and to contribute something to the world. Contribution – is the ultimate purpose of life. To make this world a better place to live. Our unrealized potential turns into pain later on.
Robin Sharma, one of world’s top leadership experts, in his book – The Leader Who Had No Title – explains the practical techniques and principles to follow so as to Lead without a Title and be the best version of yourself – doing nothing less your very best, that I am going to share with you all. Four core principles of LWT (Leader Without Title) are as follows.
First Principle: You need no titled to be a Leader.
Five practical Rules for the above principle include the acronym- IMAGE.
I = Innovation Mindset. We are living in a “Re-Make” world where we see emergence of new songs in form of re-mixes of old ones and re-makes of old movies. One should strive for slow but steady improvements. Here consistency is the key for best results.
M = Mastery. As Steve Martin said- “Be so good that people can’t ignore you”. Strive for mastery – to be best version of yourself. Being extra-ordinary in your work is one of the secrets of lasting happiness.
A = Authenticity. Be You! Trust yourself and be comfortable in your own skin.
G = Guts in Business. Risk taking ability is crucial to success.
E = Ethics. Leadership is the marriage of Excellence and Honor.
Second Principle : Turbulent times make great leaders
Hard times make us stronger. Making us realize our hidden potential.The best example to explain this is the example of caterpillar. “What caterpillar calls end of world the master calls the butterfly”– Richard Bach. We need to be patient during the process of change. As Robin Sharma has said – Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end. If it’s not hard, it’s no change at all.
Acronym to explain the principle of turbulent times building great leader is SPARK.
S= Speak with Candor. It’s true that WORDS are powerful. Where our words go, energy flows. It is necessary to develop a leadership vocabulary – using uplifting and encouraging words for your fellow mates.
P= Prioritise. Focus on the best, and neglect the rest. FOCUS leads to transformation of our lives from chaotic complexities to elegant simplicity. When a sculptor intend to make a statue, he first cuts away all extra marble. Same we need to apply in our lives- cut away all the trivial stuff and focus on what’s important.
A= Adversity breeds Opportunity. Every curse has a corresponding blessing. We need eyes to see and courage to walk through the dark paths to convert every failure we encounter into the gifts as doorway to success. Persistence and Patience are two most important virtues of Leadership. Setbacks that we face during our pursuit of a goal are just the tests if we are ready for the rewards that follow.
R= Respond v/s Response. Be a master at responding rather than being reactive. Stop worrying about all the things you can’t control.
K= Kudos for Everyone. Be someone who encourages others, applauds others for their good work. How often do we thank the people for their exceptionally good service to us ? This includes people we interact on a daily basis – rikshawala, fruit vendor, security guard. How often do we feel grateful to them for just being there for us ? Take time to say words of praise – you might not know when you can be the reason for someone else’s smile and make their day 🙂
Third Principle: Deeper Your Relationships, Stronger Your Leadership
Yo get the best of others only when you give your best to them! Keeping good relations is just like gardening – it takes lots of patience and efforts. Acronym for this principle is HUMAN
H= Helpfulness. Help others whenever get an opportunity to do so.
U= Understanding. It takes courage to keep aside the ego and understand the other person. It’s crucial to maintaining good relationships. Speak Less and Listen More.
M= Mingle. Having a lunch or a coffee with teammates or customers or the loved ones is always great to strengthen our relationships and feel lively.
A= Amuse. Having fun while doing great work makes us highly productive thus yielding high quality results taking energy levels to next higher level.
N= Nurture. Be awesomely nice to others. Nice is not being weak. It’s like being compassionate yet courageous, friendly yet firm, sincere yet strong. Even small act of kindness can help build stronger relations.
Fourth Principle: To be Great Leader First become a Great Person
This principle is all about training and strengthening our inner leader to perform extra-ordinary in all spheres of life. What’s truly important in life is to actualize our potential to leave this world a better place than you found. Greatness is an inner event with outer consequences. Acronym to explain this principle is SHINE.
S= See clearly. All of us see through a stained glass window made up of the beliefs, rules and influences of people we come across throughout our lives – parents, teachers, peers etc. We see the world not how it is but how we are. Leadership is about developing self awareness and thinking regularly about the thoughts that come to our minds. Your thinking creates your reality. Be cautious of what you think.
H= Health is Wealth. Health is he crown on the well man’s head that only an ill man can see. Take care of your health – diet, exercise, physical as well as spiritual health.
I= Inspiration Matters. As challenges are part of our daily routine so should be inspiration – needs daily refill. Some techniques can be – listening to music (that I am also listening while typing this blog), associate yourself with positive people and connect with nature – go for a walk in the woods, or by the sea – trust me it’s a soul feeding exercise to take you to eternal peace.
N=Neglect Not your Family. Never ever ignore them. Who wants success without the family to share the fruits with?
E= Elevate Your Lifestyle. YOLO – You Only Live Once. Life is too short not to enjoy and do the things you love.
Natural Leadership is a talent present in all of us which can be realized if we connect to our true self. Malala Yousafzai’s campaign for female education made her a Leader for the entire world because of her Leadership through survival. Humanty has seen various leaders who did exemplary work to uplift others, fight for a cause and make a mark in this world. The story of Gandhiji from being a lawyer to Father of the Nation talks volumes of how following our conviction can bring tremendous change in entire course of human history. Mahatma Gandhi brought the weapons of TRUTH and NON-VIOLENCE in the era of World Wars.
EVERYDAY is a platform of heroic possibilities. If we can make life of even one other person a little better, it will be an exceptionally valuable exercise. And surely we DON’T need a Title to do it. Let’s LEAD with/without a Title we have 🙂
Dream Believe Inspire 