Surrounding yourself with Leaders

by Tom Dore

Leadership… what it takes… honesty and hard work

When you go to work each day, you have a boss to report to, and so does that boss.. or maybe you ARE the boss, but you report to a Board of Directors and to the company stock holders. Almost no matter who you are, there is SOMEONE SOMEWHERE that you report to in one way or another.

Let’s talk about that someone who you are going to report to. Lots of times that person feels like they are a leader. I’ve known quite a few bosses who loved to hand out the checks on Friday because it made them feel like they were the boss and the leader. It’s not always the case.. in fact many times it’s not the case. BUT those people feel like they are leaders because they hand out the checks.

In fact, most successful companies have leaders, real true leaders inside the company. Let’s take a company of 50 people for example. Starting at the top we have the owner of the company, the person who started the company with their own money and have put in a lot of long hours making sure that the company is going the right way.

When the CEO is the founder and has put in a few years to make a successful go of this company, then most likely that person IS a leader.  That CEO took their own (or borrowed) money to start the business and most likely has been the shipping clerk to the sales manager to every other job there is, and been successful at it. That is a pretty good outline of a leader.

One the opposite end of the spectrum you’ll see middle or even high level managers who feel that the way to be a leader is to make everyone below them feel like they are BELOW him. That no matter what they do, it’s never good enough. We’ve all worked with or at least know people like that.  They are not leaders.

The leader is the person who comes to work and does their job, every day. They are the ones that people gravitate to, ask questions or to ask advice of. The Leaders will always seem to have time for these questions or for advice, and they’ll give it honestly. Not just what they think someone will want to hear.

One quality of a real leader is that the person is always honest. The leader is one you can turn to and know that no matter what the situation or questions is, that person will tell you what they believe as the truth. Sometimes they may say “I’ll get back to you” and then the key is that they do get back to you!

The higher you go in the world, the more the people you surround yourself with have to be people that you trust. President Elect Obama is filling out his cabinet right now, and putting in place a few people that are not his closest friends.

Maybe you’ve heard him compared to former President Abraham Lincoln in that he is bringing in people that have not always shared his same views and that have not always been his biggest allies. Former President Lincoln is a pretty good role model to follow. What Mr. Obama seems to be looking to do is to show everyone on both sides of the USA political spectrum that he is willing to listen to the other guy and may well agree with what that other guy has to say.

Take for example Senator Hillary Clinton. The two have not been the best of friends and President Obama knows that Senator Clinton has been an outspoken opponent of his. He has a republican in his cabinet and he has people of different races and different religions.

The last two points have become more the norm in USA politics in the last 20 years or so but the race and party differences have not been. What President Elect Obama is doing is trying to find the right mix of people no matter what their race or party affiliation and to have a few people in that won’t be “yes men” to whatever the Democratic party wants.

Also he has just appointed New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson will be secretary of commerce. Richardson was a candidate for President in the Democratic party. He did not win the nomination and so many would feel that Mr. Obama wouldn’t want him in the Cabinet in any position. However, he is one of the top Hispanic politicians in the US and brings a wealth of international marketing possibilities to President Obama.

I’ve given you a few examples of what a Leader HAS to do to be a Leader.. and one of the biggest is to be honest. Never lie.. to a co-worker, or to a client to a spouse.. whom ever. It will almost always catch up to you and bite you right in your backside.

Tom

For more on my speaking engagements and how to be a leader please visit my Website   https://tomdore.com

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