Just because you have a title or a position that conveys leadership doesn’t actually mean that you are a leader. Leadership is not about titles, labels and positions of authority. Leadership is something that you can choose to be, if you desire, and it has nothing to do with anyone else. It’s not something someone assigns to you. It’s simply a choice that you make and anyone can make it. You can choose to be a leader in your family, in your group of friends, and more importantly, in your own life.
The only thing stopping you is your own perspective and judgment. Of you.
If you are willing to be the leader you are capable of being, here are four empowering tips:
1. Always look for what else is possible that no one else has considered
The greatest leaders of our time, the ones who have truly created a change in the world, have always functioned from looking at what could be chosen and what could be created. Where others look at what is and either ignore it, complain about it or fight against it, true leaders look at what is and ask, “What else is possible? If it wasn’t this way, what else could be created? If there were no limitations, what could show up?”
True leaders are aware of possibilities and they ask questions rather than come to conclusions. Their willingness to ask questions gives them the ability to navigate the world from a completely different space than the people around them.
2. Acknowledge you and what you know
What have you always desired to see in the world? Have you always known something else was possible? Or, at least hoped so? One of the differences between leaders and followers is followers look at the world and wish for something to be different whereas leaders look at the world and ask, “What can I do to create that change?”
You are the gift, the contribution and the change the world requires. When you stop trying to make yourself small, when you are willing to know what you know and to choose it, when you stop doubting the gift and the contribution that you bring to the planet simply be being here, the world starts to change.
3. Give up judgment
True leaders have no judgment in their world. They don’t make choices based on what’s right and what’s wrong. They make choices based on the question of, “What will this create? Will this choice create more for our organization and for the world? Or will it create less?”
True leaders are willing to consider anything, they are willing to include everything, they don’t exclude anyone. They function from openness and allowance for everything.
4. Don’t look for followers
Contrary to popular opinion, leadership is not based on how many followers you have. Leaders don’t require followers. They are not looking for them. They are not asking for them. They are not judging themselves based on the number of people who like what they have to say.
A leader is someone who is willing to go where they know they must go whether anyone follows them or not.
What would you like to help create as our future? Are you willing to be aware that you are integral to that future? What is it that you are that if you choose not to be it may mean it never exists in the world?
Being a leader is about recognizing that the world is changing. It’s about asking, “What can I contribute to that change?” We live on the planet together. What happens to one of us, happens to all of us.
When you are willing to look at what’s possible, when you are willing to be the change and the contribution of you, when you choose for your life, your business and for the world based on creating something greater rather than based on right and wrong, you become the leader of your life. There may be those you see what you are choosing and desire to come along. And, there may not. Leaders don’t care. They are not looking for validation. The do not require others to agree. They are willing to go where they must go and to be the change they desire.
