10 Major causes of Failure in Leadership: #10: “Emphasis of Title”:
Competent leaders require no ‘title’ to gain the respect of their followers. Leaders who make too much of their title generally have little else to emphasise. The doors to the office of real leaders are open to all who wish to enter, and their working quarters are free from formality or ostentation (by: Napoleon Hill in “Think and Grow Rich”).
William Shakespeare said, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them”. Clearly, those seeking to attain to Princely accomplishment in their personal wealth and influence fall into the second category.
While those born financially great; the children of wealth, title and privilege, may or may not have or acquire the leadership skills that will enhance and preserve their status, in some cases, their shortcommings can be attenuated by virtue of their family name or title. Those who continue to follow such ones do so because loyalty to the larger family or station compels them to, not because of true and pure love and devotion.
If you are reading this, however, you no doubt do not have the advantage of being born to greatness in terms of wealth and position. You are on a journey to develop the status of Prince or Princess, to create a family fortune, sphere of influence and business empire that will assure both yours and your children and grandchildren’s legacy of financial and emotional security. Therefore, you do not have the advantage of being born into a position where the support of followers is guaranteed by the legacy you have inherited. YOU must EARN the loyalty of your support system each and every day.
To do so, your team must have confidence that you possess the willingness to:
1) Get your hands dirty: You should display both the ability and willingness to do any task that you would ask of your followers.
(Note: This does not mean that you should not always strive to operate at your highest and best use, it means that on occasion, pitching in with the team “in the trenches” will send a message that you are sympathetic to the demands of their jobs and that you want to understand their challenges.)
2) Be approachable: Each and every member of your team should feel comfortable bringing their work related problems to you for advice and support.
(Note: The key to long term success here is to empower your followers. A great leader does not have the time, nor the desire to quarterback each and every issue that comes up each day. When staff brings a problem to you … help them reason out the solution and then send them away to implement the solution. Do NOT take on management of the problem yourself. Provide the tools and guidance, empower your resource and then GET OUT OF THE WAY. Over time, such empowered followers will bring fewer and fewer problems to you, enabling your time to be more productive.
3) Do not micro-manage:
There are four styles of leadership:
– 1: Don’t do anything unless I tell you to …
– 2: Check with me before you do anything …
– 3: Keep me informed and I will let you know when I have a concern …
– 4: I really don’t give a damn …
Of these 4 styles of leadership, ONLY number 3 leads to wealth and prosperity.
Style #1 breeds apathy and resentment in your followers and your goals will suffer.
Style #2 breeds distrust because your followers will never feel as though you trust their judgement and will reciprocate.
Style #4 obviously sends the message that your goals are not important to you and therefore why should they be important to your followers.
A true leader recognizes that finite time constrains his or her ability to be involved in everything, and therefore seeks to cultivate followers who are, in fact, leaders in their own right. Empowering our followers to act with authority and confidence creates multiple tiers of support resources, expanding the influence of the Prince or Princess exponentially. That is the goal of a true leader … not to attain a title … but to increase our footprint on this planet by inspiring our many tiers of followers to adopt our goals and make them their own.