(Robin Sharma)
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To help you Lead Without a Title, I’ve distilled 10 of the most
valuable and practical insights on leadership that I’ve taught to our
global corporate clients like Starbucks, IBM, Nike, GE and FedEx. These
ideas have helped them do some great things. My deep wish is that they
deliver the same results for you.
#1. THE JOB OF A LEADER IS TO GROW MORE LEADERS.
I’ll be blunt: if you’re not building more leaders, then you’re not
leading, you’re following. Your job (regardless of whether or not you
have a title) is to help people do work they never dreamed they could
do. Your job is to inspire people to own their talents, express their
gifts and do the best work of their lives. That’s part of what it truly
means to lead.
#2. NOTHING HAPPENS UNTIL YOU MOVE.
Start
small, dream huge but begin today. Nothing happens until you take
massive action. The sad reality is that procrastination is nothing more
than the defense mechanism of choice used by scared people. Here’s what I
mean: if we actually did our goals and acted on our visions, we’d
become ultra-successful. And spectacular success brings responsibility.
That frightens most among us. And so we put off getting great things
done. And blame the world for any mediocrity that infuses our lives.
#3. YOUR BEHAVIOR REVEALS YOUR BELIEFS.
You tell the world what you believe via how you behave. Complain all
day long and you reveal a deeply ingrained set of beliefs that you are
powerless and apathetic. Present work that has typos and poor wording
and you express a belief that average is cool with you. Mistreat others
and you reveal that you’re selfish–and disconnected from the beautiful
humanity that surrounds you. The good news is that as you wire in the
beliefs of leadership (versus victimhood), your behavior changes
automatically.
#4. IDEAS ARE WORTHLESS WITHOUT EXECUTION.
I’d
rather have an average idea that my team and I flawlessly execute on
than a genius-level idea with poor execution. The best Leaders Without
Titles and the organizations that win big are all about “less talk and
more do”. Less meetings and more delivery. Less analysis and more
rolling up of sleeves and getting amazing projects done.
#5. WHEN YOU LEARN MORE YOU GET TO ACHIEVE MORE.
To double your income, triple your rate of learning. Few things have
served my professional career–and the careers of the billionaires,
Titans and CEOS I privately coach than this idea. Please simply remember
that genius is much less about natural talent and much more about
out-studying, out-preparing, out-practising and out-learning everyone
around you. Almost nothing yields the return on investment that
investing in workshops, conferences, online course, audiobooks/books and
coaching does.
#6. TAKE CARE OF THE RELATIONSHIP AND THE MONEY TAKES CARE OF ITSELF.
Leadership is about relationships. The smartest, fastest and most
effective leaders all get that the whole game is about people–developing
teammates + serving customers + making the world a whole lot better by
the way you show up in it. Learn to listen like a master. Commit to
being more inspirational. Keep your promises. Do nice things for people.
Be the most generous person you know. Staggeringly great opportunities
will come your way. Trust me.
#7. RESPECT IS NOT GRANTED BUT EARNED.
A title, position and a large office do not guarantee people will
respect you. Nope. You’ve got to earn that gift. And the quickest way to
earn respect is to give it. No need to say much more.
#8. DONT CONFUSE MOVEMENT WITH PROGRESS.
Yes, we live in The Age of Dramatic Distraction. According to The
Financial Times we collectively spend 100,000,000 minutes a day playing
Angry Birds on our smartphones. Most people in business are spending the
absolute best hours of their days being busy being busy. Leaders
Without Titles are completely different. I teach my clients a whole
system of tactics to 20X productivity but a few to apply are these:
start your day at 5 am/set 5 daily goals and get them done before
leaving the office (that’s 1850 “small wins” in 12 months)/use your
first 90 minutes at work to fuel your most important project/get good at
saying no.
#9. VICTIMS DON’T DO GIANT THINGS.
Victims make
excuses while leaders drive exceptional results. You can spot a victim a
mile away: they blame and complain and are negative and cynical.
They’ve given away their power to achieve amazing things to other people
and outer conditions for so long they’ve actually conditioned
themselves to think they have none. You are not a victim. This day–and
every one that follows for the rest of your life–offers a platform of
possibility. And the great thing about using your power to make things
better is that the more you use it, the more powerful you become.
#10. LIFE IS SHORT SO BE OF USE.
My Dad is awesome. He often said, “Robin, when you were born, you cried
while the world rejoiced. Son, live your life in such a way that when
you die, the world cries while you rejoice.” I’ve always remembered my
Dad’s striking advice. And carried it with me in all that I do. To truly
be a leader has nothing to do with ego-stroking, applause and fame. No,
to be a leader is to make phenomenal contributions that make the world
better and cause a lasting difference. To lead is to serve. And to be of
use.
As always, hope these 10 points are helpful to you, your life, your team and your mission.
Please shSharma)em with your others, discuss them and–most importantly–live them.
(- See more at:
http://www.robinsharma.com/…/the-top-10-things-amazing-le…/…)
