What Makes a Leader?

Winston Churchill once said, “Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it all others depend.”

Whether we have courage or not is dependent on the kind of conditioning we have received throughout our life, whether we are conscious or unconscious of it.

The good news is: It can be changed, developed and reconditioned. To possess courage is one of the basic requirements for leadership in practically any field.

Fear, or the lack of courage, is the key contributor of failure in life and in management compared to any other factor. It is always fear (fear of rejection and fear of failure being the top two) that causes people to procrastinate, to hold back, to sell themselves short, and to settle for far less than what they deserve!

For example, I always teach that ideal jobs come through personal contacts and networks instead of job-boards like jobsdb.com, monster.com, classifiedpost.com, etc.

As soon as I say, “You have to start networking,” I hear sighs and fearful expressions asking, “Must I?”

Why are people afraid of networking? Because they are afraid of not knowing what to say, how to continue the conversation, how people will think of them… They are afraid of being embarrassed.

In other words, they fear rejection. What other people think of them has become more important than what they want to achieve.

Too bad.

But for those of you who are willing to do whatever it takes (ethically, of course) to achieve your goals (this is the hallmark of a leader because this is a demonstration of self-leadership), ask yourself this question:

“What one thing would I dare to dream or do if I knew I could not fail?”

That is: If you had no fears at all and everything you did succeeds, what would you do differently today?

Now, go do exactly that!

Think about it: What’s the risk? Before you did it (i.e. the something that you fear), you didn’t have it. And if you didn’t get it after you did it, then you are in the same position as before.

Yes, fear may be there. But you can feel the fear and do it anyway. This is the surest way to conquer fear and build courage.

A leader is first a person who can lead himself or herself. Without such courage, leading others effectively will not be possible.

So, next time someone says, “No” to you, you say, “Next!”