The often-repeated   statement that   ‘Americans fear public speaking more than they fear death’  may be a vast overstatement in today’s society, nevertheless  studies  show  that public speaking is at the top of the list of fears that Americans have.
There is no magic formula to becoming an effective speaker. Like any other skill it must be worked at. Regardless of your background or the size of your audience, you too can learn to connect with those you wish to influence. If you keep in mind that your audience wants to learn from you as much as you want to share information with them, you will be well on your way to effective public speaking.
Here are seven steps to  becoming an effective  speaker:
1.    Embrace your Subject:   You don’t have to know everything there is to know about your subject matter but you must know enough to provide quality content and to be able to respond to relevant  questions. Knowing your topic and being comfortable in that knowledge,  are crucial steps to effective presentations.

2.    Embrace your Surroundings: If you’re scheduled to speak at an unfamiliar venue, arrive early and familiarize yourself with the location, the room, the seating arrangements and verify that  any equipment you need are available and functioning. Connect with the host to get last minute instructions.

3.    Embrace your Contacts: As the attendees arrive, be warm and genuine in your greetings. Introduce yourself and find out tidbits about their reasons for attending. Remember a few names. That may come in handy later.

4.    Embrace an air of Confidence: Don’t wait until you feel confident to act confident.  Let your eyes, your posture, your movements and the tone of your voice (that you previously practiced) assure your audience that  they are getting ready to be informed, inspired, challenged and even entertained.

5.    Embrace your Flaws:  So you’re nervous. You think you may pass out from all those pairs of eyes staring up at you. Perhaps, horror of horrors, you forgot a chunk of your speech!  Understand that things happen regardless of prior planning.  The key here is, do not apologize! Apologizing only gets the audience to focus on the very thing you want them to overlook. More likely than not, they did not notice the problems you thought existed so why bring it up! Relax and allow the information that you’ve come to share find its way to your audience in a manner that embraces your humanity flaws and all.

6.    Embrace your Audience:  Be yourself as you share your knowledge and do so naturally and unhurriedly.  Pause for brief moments to allow for emphasis.  Pausing also gives you the opportunity to catch your breath and gauge audience reaction.  Establish brief eye contacts  and if you can, zero in on those you met before the session started. They may well be your most supportive listeners.  Mentioning their first names or the earlier comments, may even gain you brownie points.

7.    Embrace your Followers:  If time permits, allow for question and answers or stick around after the event to dialogue with interested attendees.  Ask questions and listen to the feedback which may become invaluable as you prepare for your next speaking event.

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As we celebrate this Father’s Day, let us encourage a father we know to live up to the ideals of what being a father should be all about. Remind those fathers, young and old, to  Show up, Stay in, Shut out and Sit down.

Show up in your children’s lives no matter how young or how old they are. A mother cannot take your place, no matter how hard she tries. You can’t be replaced, even by a ‘new dad.’ It is never too late to be the father you always wish you were so make amend, if you can.

Stay in the game. You can’t have a meaningful  impact on the outcome if you exit the game too early. Fatherhood is a tough game. Nonetheless work at it and be there to witness the final score.

Shut out the notion that your kids are better off without you and or that your absense won’t impact them. Ending a relationship with or divorcing their mother, did not end your role, your function and your need to be present in their lives.

Sit down and have a conversation with your offsprings, regardless of their age, whether they be near or far. With the advent of smart phones, Skype, social media and other forms of inexpensive contact options, one can no longer genuinely  use the excuse of distance and expense to connect.

I hope you’ll take the time this weekend to pass this on to a father you know and care about as I await my annual Father’s Day call!

How has a father or father figure positively impact your life? Leave a comment in the box below.

 
I kept my word and a week after we buried Dad, Mom came to live  with my daughters and I. Thoughts of dad were never far from mind and he soon became a part of my dreams. The most vivid dream occurred soon after his death.  In my dream I found myself driving an odd-looking mini two-door coupe with my mother and daughters sitting almost on top of each other as they crammed into the vehicle. I had no idea of our destination. I only knew that I was looking for dad so I could bring him home. As we drove through the quiet streets I kept wondering why he had left us to fend for ourselves.

 
The car seemed to have a mind of its own as we weaved our way through the narrow streets of an unfamiliar town. Following my instinct, that only dreams can provide, I turned down a side street and the car was instantly swallowed up, as it were, by literally hundreds of individuals all dressed in white – white suits and dresses, white shoes, white hats and caps. They appeared not to notice our vehicle as they either talked quietly amongst themselves, walked unhurriedly across the street or congregated along the side walk. Each house we passed had its own cluster of people, spilling out the front door, standing on the lawn as well as clogging the driveway.

 
I crept slowly down the street as I peered in vain at each passerby hoping to find dad. I implored my nervous passengers to do the same. Then, instinctively I stopped in front of a non-descript house, quickly got out the vehicle and urged my family to do the same. My girls held on to me for dear life as mom followed closely on my heels. As we approached the driveway the sea of individuals parted and allowed us to approach the front door, which stood open. As we stepped inside an expansive living room, I saw that dozens of similarly clad men and women occupied every square inch, as far as my eyes could see. Strangely, no one spoke to us, stared at us or tried to stop us as we went from room to room. Then we entered the kitchen, which was extremely large and even more crowded than the other rooms. For the first time I heard a distinctive voice as if someone was giving a lecture. However the throng that stood before me was too thick for me to see who the speaker was.

 
Suddenly, as if on cue, the multitude parted to reveal the back of a small, wiry man. He turned and to my surprise and joy, I saw that it was dad. Unlike the others who occupied this strange community, and who were all similarly dressed in head-to-toe white, dad sported an expensively tailored black suit, with matching tie and a dazzlingly white shirt. In our excitement we rushed to him and I  blurted out, “Dad we’ve come to take you home!”

 
With a serious countenance he raised his right hand to stop our forward momentum. I stopped in my tracks as fear gripped me. He seemed so serious. There was recognition but no joy in his eyes. Then he said in a grave and solemn tone, “there is nothing I can do for you. Go home and take care of your mother.” Our tears flowed as he turned away and was once again swallowed up by the crowd. Filled with shame and embarrassment I hurriedly gathered my family, retraced my steps and hurriedly drove away.

Later as I awoke from that dream, I tearfully marveled at its content and to the messages that only a dream can bring. Happy Father’s Day Dad!

 
Do you have a story to share about your father? Leave your comments in the box below.

Face yourself in the mirror and ask your reflecting countenance, honestly and without evasion, the following questions:

• Am I living the vision I had for my life?
• Has the fulfillment I yearned for passed me by?
• If I have not achieved my heart’s desires, what is really keeping me from living my dreams?

The answer, in many cases, will be the small yet potent word, FEAR!

For many of us, there seems much to fear: fear of the unknown, fear of making the wrong decisions, fear of stepping out on faith; fear of committing to something or someone and the list goes on.

It is a true statement that the leading cause of people not fulfilling their dreams is NOT the fear of failure but the fear of success!  It’s the fear of actually accomplishing what they set out to do.  The fear of living life to the fullest can have a paralyzing effect.   This fear may have caused you to give up your dream of perhaps owning your own business, going after that promotion or to even furthering your education. It may even be that you started down the path to accomplish your dream but ended up making decisions or failing to take the right actions, which  sabotaged your dreams of success and fulfillment.

Many of us live our lives in quiet desperation, not even knowing why our dreams haven’t come to fruition.  That hidden fear of success turned our dreams of  business achievement, financial freedom and loving relationships, into a pattern of  false starts, procrastination and feelings of failure.

The reality is that fear is a natural part of the human experience and some fear is even healthy.  It is fear that gives you the adrenaline rush to escape from a dangerous situation or causes you to fight to win. Many times it’s fear that drives us back to God when we find ourselves in trouble and are seeking to get back to the place of doing his will.  Fears like those are what make us human. It is only when fear cripples us, conquers us or clouds our ability to move towards our dreams, and live the life that God intended, that we need to make a course correction.

As you face your reflection and search deep within, take an honest assessment and do the following:

• accept the fact that your fears have clouded your vision;
•   acknowledge that such destructive fear is self-defeating;
•  realize that such feelings of fear are habits which can be changed;
•  appreciate that you cannot wait for the fear to go away to act;
•  know that failure in the past does not determine your future;
•  recognize that you can move from failure to fulfillment even in the presence of fear; and most of all,
•  understand that God has given you the power  to make meaningful life changes that can take you from fear and failure to freedom and fulfillment.

How have you gone about conquering your fear of success? Leave me a comment in the box below. You can also connect with me on facebook, or via my website.

It is a truism that effective leadership is needed on the organizational, professional as well as personal levels. It is also true that leaders, particularly those in the public eye, whose actions and behavior can be more readily scrutinized, are held to a high standard.

For Christian leaders, the expectation of leadership is raised even higher and such leaders are held to much higher moral, ethical, and social standards. It will surprise no one that Christians and non-Christians alike do expect that Christian and other religious leaders measure up to their self-proclaimed moral and ethical standards and mirror the principles they espouse.

If you consider yourself, or if others identify you as, a Christian leader, what can you do to be sure you ‘measure up’ in the area of Christian leadership?

1.     Be Above Reproach    One of the most important things you can do as a Christian leader is to clean up your act—if there is anything in your life, moral or ethical, which would not stand up to scrutiny if the entire world found out—you must eliminate it immediately.  Do not give anyone an opening to think that you are a hypocrite.

2.    Be Transparent    Be sure that the decisions you make are honest and ethical.  You cannot effectively lead when your decisions and actions are not above-board, fair, and honest. Be that light that others are looking to emulate, believe in and respect.

3.   Be a Truth-teller    As a Christian leader, commit to telling the truth no matter what.  If you lie or tell half-truths, people will feel that your entire faith is a sham.  In fact, if you are habitually lying and telling half-truths, your faith may indeed be a sham.

4.    Be in the Trenches    Learn everything you can about the tasks at hand, even if it means working in the trenches for a while.  No one likes to be led by someone who has never done what they are doing or a leader who feels that certain tasks are beneath him/her.  This doesn’t mean you have to become an expert in every activity, just be engaged long enough to understand the difficult or frustrating aspects of the work.  Another benefit to this is, when you have actually done the work, you can more effectively brainstorm solutions to challenges when they arise.

5.   Be the Example    Do you expect or anticipate that your staff or volunteers will show up on time for work, important meetings or scheduled events?  Then you must do the same.  Sometimes it is so easy to think that you have earned the right to come in whenever you feel like it, or to routinely keep others waiting for you to show up as scheduled.  Sure, you may have earned the right, but you gain far more by setting the example for performance and punctuality.  Do you expect others to work longer hours when a project is behind schedule?  Then you must be willing to do the same.

6.   Be  a Producer     Although you may feel you have earned the right to delegate away all the work, continue to be involved in productive tasks.  By being actively engaged, you not only gain the respect of your staff, you also keep in touch with the flow of things.  As a leader, it is easy to become disengaged from the actual productive segment of the operation, and therefore make decisions that may look and sound good, but are actually, in reality, unworkable.

7.   Be Insightful        Constantly reevaluate your own performance.  Often, you may spend so much time correcting the actions of others and solving crises you didn’t create, that you develop a sense that others aren’t as capable as you.  Consequently, you may not recognize when you are falling into bad habits that also need to be corrected.  Be the first to recognize and correct your own shortfalls.

8.   Be Responsible    Once in a position of leadership, especially if you are good at what you do, it is easy to begin to feel that you are invincible or irreplaceable.  Such thoughts leave you vulnerable to pride, and may lead you to make decisions that you yourself would frown on, if those around you did the same.  Maintain full responsibility for your actions, and keep them in check as you lead others.

9.   Be that Spiritual Compass       Those you lead are continually looking for that moral and spiritual compass that being a Christian leader requires. What that means is that your ‘creed’ and your ‘deed’ ought to be in sync.

What other Leadership Principles should a Christian Leader embody? Leave your thoughts in the comment box below.

Throughout my adult life I had always prided myself on the charitable works I did or the causes I supported financially. It wasn’t until my mother came to live with me that I began to understand the true meaning of service and serving others. Two weeks after my father died from stomach cancer, my mother was diagnosed with colon cancer. After 50 years of marriage which she had gone into, straight from living at home, this was not the time to experiment on seeing if she could live alone.

Coming so soon on the grief we went through as we watched my father die, the realization that her time might be limited caused me to review my life, the paths I had taken and the things that I thought were important to me.

Spirituality had always been important to me and more than ever, I began to draw on that storehouse of strength, endurance and faith.
I took a leave of absence from my job and dedicated myself to seeing that she was taken care of, wanted for nothing and that her medical rituals and requirements were taken care of effectively and efficiently.

That year I spent with her as she recovered from surgery and subsequent treatments taught me so many lessons that I would not have otherwise learned. A year and a half after her initial diagnosis her health began to fail again.  I juggled work, a business and being a single parent to two very active teenage daughters. The quandary of her being ‘too rich’ to qualify for government services yet ‘too poor’ to afford round the clock help, lead me to the task of working during the day, while she had a caregiver, and taking care of her at night, with the help of my daughters. She had been in a nursing home but the thought of leaving her there was too much for us all to bear and so we brought her home.

The two years that I cared for her until her death, were some of the worst yet some of the best times I had ever experienced. My service to her taught me several lessons that have made me a better person. I learned:

1.    Closeness. As I carried out my mission from day to day, it brought to mind, William Shakespeare’s  characterization of the ‘Seven Stages of Man.’ I realized she was in that seventh stage, that ‘second childishness’ that he wrote about. Yet we were never more  close than we were during those times as we faced life together. The hurriedness of my professional and personal life slowed down to match the cadence of her life and we were drawn together in love, laughter, memories, spiritual awakening   and self-discovery.

2.    Love. I really learned to love her, not as my mother or a person in need of assistance, but as another human being separate and apart from me. She was a gift from God that I could pour my love into and it came right back in unexpected ways. Her smile. Her laughter. Her appreciation. Her faith. The love in her eyes when she looked at me or her granddaughters. Three generation of women brought together to share a life of love and abundant joy, even in the midst of pain.

3.    Family. Mom’s presence in our home gave an immeasurable gift to my daughters. I marveled at the closeness that developed between the three of them as they often held their heads close together in laughter at something they all thought was funny.  In the past they would have had to travel almost a thousand miles to visit the grandparents once a year or even less. Her being with us gave them that sense of connection and an opportunity to learn who she really was. More than anything, she also learned the essence of who they were. They learned of the power and strength of the family unit and that they would carry on the legacy of her and those who had come before her.

4.    Resilience. This experience taught me so much about who I was, my stamina, my ability to give selflessly and the strength that was so much a part of me, yet I hadn’t known existed. It made me know that I was strong enough to face whatever life brought to my doorstep and that I could handle it with grace, patience and with a heart filled with gratitude.

5.    Faith. More than anything else, my faith in God was rekindles. I had begun to take my faith, beliefs and spirituality for granted. Yet in the midst of Mom’s illness, the faith that had lain dormant, welled up within me and gave me the power and strength to persevere.  It was a constant reminder of my connection to Spirit, The Universe and Divine Love. My strengthened faith gave me the ability to appreciate all that I am and all that she was.

I also learned the greatest lesson of all.  I understood that when I took my eyes off my challenges and extended my heart unselfishly to another,  that it is through that experience that I learn the true meaning of love, family, faith, selflessness and serving others.

What memories come to mind as you celebrate Mother’s Day? Let me know what Mother’s Day mean to you.

Then you went off to colleges and unfortunately the traditional educational system didn’t provide practical steps on how to become leaders in either your professional or personal lives. Instead of learning to become creative, independent, self-reliant, and thought leaders, most of us learned how to obey and intelligently follow rules.

Developing the Leader in you, in order to live your highest life, requires a process of disavowing the limiting beliefs of the past and seeing your possibilities in a whole new light. Here are ten pivotal steps that the young professional can take to develop their leadership potential, thus positioning themselves for professional and personal fulfillment.

1.    Dream Big. If you want to be larger than life, you need a dream that’s larger than life. Small dreams won’t serve you or anyone else. It takes the same amount of time to dream small than it does to dream big. So dream Big and dream Bold! Write down your One Biggest Dream: the one that excites you the most. Don’t think small. Don’t think realistic; be bold and unrealistic! Go for the Gold and for the highest you can possibly achieve in your field. After you’ve written down your dream, list every single reason why you CAN achieve your dream. Don’t worry about the how or about why you can’t.

2.    Have a Vision for Your Life. As it says in Proverbs, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish.’ If you can’t see yourself being that person you want to be or doing those things your heart demands of you, it is unlikely you will be able to lead yourself or others to victory. Visualize what it would be like to accomplish your dream. See it, smell it, taste it, hear it, feel it in your gut.

3.     Perseverance. Victory belongs to those who want it the most and who are willing to stay in the trenches even in the face of obstacles and perceived failures.  Take consistent action to realize your dreams. Take at least one substantial action every day that will move you closer to your dreams.

4.    Follow Your Bliss. Regardless of how busy you are, always take time to do what you love doing .  If you follow your dream and dream big as discussed above, the hobby you joyously pursue may, with planning, become the vocation that financially sustains you. When you follow your bliss, those around you can’t help but see your vitality and aliveness. When you are pursuing your passions, people around you will feel impassioned by your presence. Whatever it is that, if it’s not your current profession, make sure to set aside time to pursue these activities.

5.    Humility. Leadership starts with humility. To be a highly successful leader, you must first humble yourself and be willing to serve others. Nobody wants to follow someone who is arrogant. Be humble, always curious, always hungry and thirsty for knowledge. When you are humble, you become genuinely interested in people because you want to learn from them. And because you want to learn and grow, you will be a far more effective listener, which is the #1 leadership communication tool. When people sense you are genuinely interested in them, and listening to them, they will naturally be interested in you and listen to what you have to say.

6.    Honor Your Word. Every time you break your word, you lose power. Successful leaders keep their word and their promises. You can accumulate all the toys and riches in the world, but you only have one reputation in life. Your word is gold. Honor it.

7.    Find a Mentor. Preferably someone who has already achieved a high degree of success in your field. Don’t be afraid to ask. You’ve got nothing to lose. In addition to mentors, take time to study leaders you admire, particularly those in your field of interest. Learn everything you can from their lives and to see how their actions and strategies contributed to their success.

8.    Be Yourself. Use your relationships with mentors and your research on great leaders as models or reference points to work from, while leaving room to make your own footprints.  The leaders you study may have  vastly different leadership styles.  History is filled with leaders from all spectrum: from those who are soft-spoken, introverted, and quiet to others who are outspoken, extroverted, and loud, and everything in between. Most of all, be yourself, your best self and you will become a first rate YOU instead of a second rate somebody else.

9.    Be a Giver. Leaders are givers. By giving, you activate a universal law as sound as gravity. Life gives to the giver, and takes from the taker. The more you give, the more you get. If you want more love, respect, support, and compassion, give love, give respect, give support, and give compassion. Be a mentor to others. Give back to your community. As a leader, the only way to get what you want,  is by helping enough people get what they want first.

10.   Self Discovery.  In order to know where you’re going, it’s important to know where you’ve been. Begin by writing down your strengths including your accomplishments. Then list those areas that need to be improved. Acknowledge any doubts, anxieties, fears, and worries that you may have. These are the impediments  to your good  and by bringing them to conscious awareness you can begin to work on them. Then proceed by listing all the opportunities you see available to you, leaving space on your list for opportunities you may not even have thought about before. By leaving room for greater possibilities, you open the door to even greater opportunities.

What other Leadership action steps do you think are important for a young professional to take? Place your comment in the box below.

Benefits of Hiring a Life Coach

As coaches with varying expertise continue to develop, coaching has now spread to various aspects of life beyond the business venue. Correspondingly as the interest in hiring coaches expands, so does the specialization by coaches increase to meet specific needs. For example, one can also find Bereavement, Co-Parent, Men’s, Women’s, Military Transitional, Singles, New Age, Spiritual, Nature Coaches and the list goes on and on.

Regardless of the initial reason for hiring a coach, the benefits can be enormous. A skilled outsider who is not involved in the daily grind can see the big picture of your business, your life, your family, your faith, your actions or inaction. A coach provides an objective view that you may find difficult to have when engrossed in the day to day operations of your professional or personal life.

As an objective third party, a coach can also help you see where you should be focusing your efforts to enhance your professional or personal development. You are held accountable for your actions and can get the motivation and feedback you need to push forward. This can also help you let go of tasks or projects that aren’t adding value. A coach is also someone you can brainstorm with who might bring completely different and creative ideas to the table. You can look at current problems from a new angle, coming up with solutions you hadn’t thought of before.

Are You Ready to Hire a Coach?

Before you decide to spend the money to hire a coach, consider the following:

•    Do you have a clear vision and plan for where you want your professional or personal life to go?
•    Are you clear about the actions you need to take to achieve your goals?
•    Do you have the necessary skills that’s required for you to move forward?
•   Do you know what skills you do need to move forward?
•   Do you know how to tackle the problems you are currently facing in your business or personal life?

If you answered no to any of the above, then you may want to consider finding a coach with the expertise to help you.

While hiring a coach can be a significant investment, many successful individuals will tell you it’s an expense you can’t afford not to make.  You may be surprised at just how many successful individuals have hired one or more coaches to provide them with professional and/or personal advice along their way to success.

In what ways do you think having a coach may or may not help you?

The International Association of Coaching describes coaching as ‘a transformative process for personal and professional awareness, discovery and growth.’

The Coaching Evolution
A review of the history of coaching shows that reference to it in the literature goes back to the 1930’s. However, it wasn’t until the 1990’s that business coaching emerged as a distinct discipline and as an important tool used by major corporations to develop their senior managers.

In the twenty-first century coaching has come into its own. Corporate heads have begun to openly acknowledge the stresses and strain inherent in corporate life, how these stressors negatively impact their people and thereby their job performance and ultimately the success of the company. Companies now show a greater willingness to hire coaches to assist their senior managers in all aspects of their careers, the demands of the job as well as the stressors that affect them outside of the workplace.

This new willingness to use the services of coaches has expanded from the major corporations to mid-sized and smaller companies. What that means for the coaching industry is that competent and specialized coaching are now being sought by companies large and small including entrepreneurs, professionals, leaders and aspiring leaders as well as individuals looking to grow their business, improve job performance or enhance professional, personal, family and even spiritual goals.

Even though coaching was largely pioneered by major corporations, individuals have begun to see the importance of seeking the assistance of a coach in the business arena, particularly where their employer may not yet provide that opportunity. Individuals, for example, may hire a business or leadership coach for a number of different reasons. Their career might be stuck at a plateau and they are eager to take it to the next level. Their inability to communicate effectively with their superiors or subordinates may be taking a toll on their ability to achieve promotion or a leadership position; or their superiors may not see or acknowledge their true leadership potential and the individual needs guidance on how to break through these invisible barriers. Hiring the right coach enables them to develop skills they currently lack, allows them the opportunity to review their problems and stumbling block through a fresh pair of professional eyes and provides them with an impartial third party with the necessary skills to pose the right questions and to help them see what the next series of steps should be.

Some individuals just need someone to hold them accountable, provide them with a timetable or to give them frequent motivation. They might be having trouble focusing on what they need to do from day to day to make their lives better.

Have you ever used the services of a coach and what were the results? Leave your comment in the box below.

1.    Are Leaders born or made?

Many of us may look at the political, professional or social leaders of our time, or those of the past and believe them to be born leaders – Lincoln; Eisenhower; JFK; Reagan, MLK, and we think they were born leaders.  Very few leaders, if any, are born. They each made a decision at some point in their lives to learn and master skills of Leadership

They had drive and determination to become people of consequence. They honed their skills to become important leaders in their respective field.  Admire them, not necessarily for the talents they were born with but for the determination they had to make their life count and mean something.
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2.    Is Being a boss  automatically make  you a leader?

Many people mistake their new found status of being a supervisor, business owner, new executive or entrepreneur as one of true leadership. The Boss that says- “do as I say, or else” or “if you want to keep your job you better do what I tell you,” -that boss is nothing but a bully who has lost control of the situation and who does not have the ability to influence her subordinates to act.
As the saying goes, if you’re leading and no one is following you then you’re not the leader. If you have to force others on the job to do what you want, you’re not the leader. If you’re constantly in conflict on the job with your boss, co-workers and subordinates, you’re not a true leader. If no one can follow where you’re leading, you’re not a true leader:

3.    Do You  have to be in a supervisory position to be a leader?

Many employees mistakenly believe that because they are not in an ultimate  decision making position that they can’t become a leader and their thinking  may stem from various reasons:

•   The office environment: your boss or direct supervisor, doesn’t allow for leaders to  emerge – perhaps your boss is  a control freak or is insecure about his own position;
•  You feel that you’re not being paid enough to flex your leadership muscles – and that you’re only going to do what you’re paid to do;
•  You feel that you’re not educated enough and that your co-workers have more education and/or experience than you
•  You believe that people don’t trust or respect you enough for your voice to matter;
•  You may believe you have a voice but you’re waiting for your boss to discover your talents and approach you.

Begin today to chart your own course. Look at how you approach your job, your relationship with your supervisor or co-workers and see if there’s something you’re doing or failing to do that is hampering your professional growth. Don’t wait to be at the top to be a leader. Start in your group meetings and department projects but remember it’s not about control or telling others what to do. Improving your leadership skills as an employee will make you stand out over and above your peers and gets you ready when the next promotional opportunity comes available.

4.    Is Leadership  just for the boardroom?

By becoming a better leader in your business you can transfer these skills to bring more happiness and joy into your personal life. You can take the leadership helm in your own home. It is not about control, coercion or alienating others. It’s not about being a know-it-all or telling others what to do. It’s about developing the proper skills that will influence people to want to work with you; it’s about sharing clear and persuasive communication that will lead others to want to be their highest and best selves; it’s about finding your own passion and encouraging others to find their own. It’s about better relationships with your parents, spouse, significant other, children and grandchildren. It’s about charting a success course for those who depend on you- whether at home or in your professional or social organizations.

It is possible to have success on the business front and transfer these leadership skills  to all other areas of your life,  that is, if making those changes are important to you.

Are there other erroneous assumptions about leaders? Add your voice to the discussion by commenting in the box below.

There is an MPA degree online for those who are interested in government leadership.