UNLEASHING LEADER IN YOU

LEADERSHIP is the vehicle that moves individuals, families, communities and nations to their desired future. Each one of us is a leader in our sphere of influence.

Leadership is about influence and it is also about creating and embracing winning habits. However, it is also critical for leaders to learn personal management. Each one of us has something to accomplish through our gifts and talents, but we need to practice personal management in order to transform the potential within us into an enduring positive reality. In fact, personal management will help us not to become casualties on the way to destiny. Creating a better system of personal management will help us use our time, energy and gifts effectively, so that we do not end up wasted, empty and discouraged. The journey of fulfilling purpose and destiny demands vitality, a clear head and a warm heart. Personal management can help us develop the attitudes and exercise the behaviours that will enable us to finish well in life.

As leaders, we must learn how to manage our time. This demands that we account for each day. Managing our time is very key to successfully manage other areas of our lives, especially because vision and goals are accomplished in time. It is important for leaders to learn how to effectively manage time. We must begin by discovering where most of our time is spent on, and then be disciplined enough to cut off all unproductive activities that waste our time.

Systematic time management is one of the powerful ingredients in achieving our dreams and goals. Time management is the ability to put first things first, moment by moment, day by day, week by week, month by month and year by year. Time management requires that we exercise a disciplined lifestyle. We must be determined to wake up on time, do things on time and arrive at places of our appointments on time.

We must divorce this African mentality of not respecting time, and organise our lives in such a way that we do not waste time on unimportant things or things which could be done later. We must actually exercise the power of the will to say no to distractions unnecessary interruptions. If we fail to manage our time, it will inevitably compromise the quality of our leadership. Personal management also demands that we manage our emotions. Do past events sometimes rise up in our minds and wreck havoc on our present situations? Have we been able to forgive those who have hurt us?

When we, as leaders, fail to manage our emotional lives, we will be motivated by our own sense of deprivation, and thus lose our objectivity in our leading. Leaders must cultivate the habit of governing their emotions. 
One of the areas that leaders must learn to manage is the area of knowledge or information. A leader must be disciplined enough to create time for reading. Reading stimulates our intellect. We must always endeavour to grow intellectually as leaders. Leaders must be well informed in the sphere of their operation or influence. Lack of knowledge is a recipe for shipwreck on the pathway to destiny. Knowledge enlightens; a blind leader will lead people into a ditch.

Knowledge helps to diversify our perspective on issues as leaders. A narrow minded leader is usually a stumbling block to family, community and national progress. It is, therefore, imperative for leaders to read and study.  Leadership demands that we also learn how to relate with people around us. Cultivating the art of how to talk to others is key to positively influence people. We must properly manage our conversations.

We must learn how to speak to people in a respective way. Accusations are like chemical weapons; they actually distort and poison the atmosphere. Every human being is differently unique. Therefore, we must acknowledge and learn how to navigate around the differences in others, whether at family, community or national level. Leaders must also faithfully manage positive friendships. Friendship is a vital part to social living, successful living and key to becoming an effective leader.

Since the friendships we embrace have the power to positively or negatively impact our future, we need to choose right friends as leaders. Farlex’s Dictionary defines the word choose as; to pick out, select, choose from a number of alternatives, and or to take by way of preference from two or more objects offered. Experiences of life and society will usually offer us a variety of friendships. We must be able to differentiate a friend and a flatterer. A friend is one who esteems, respects and intimately associates with you for the purposes of ultimately enhancing your purpose and destiny.

We must always know that our associations will always affect our discretion, our understanding and wisdom levels. In the context of becoming better leaders, we must be friendly to all people, yet carefully choose those we embrace as bosom friends for the sake of progress and prosperity of our families, communities and nation. 

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