The Toughest Person to Lead

Dear Leader,

I trust this meets you in pursuit of wisdom.

Who do you think is the toughest person to lead?

We sometimes think of all great leaders and assume they all had it together always, but if like me, you read a lot of biographies and autobiographies of leaders, and really examine their lives closely, you will see that these so called great leaders struggled at some point to lead themselves well.

From David to George Washington or Winston Churchill or Nelson Mandela to YOU, the toughest person to lead is always “SELF”.

It’s easy to tell others what to do. It’s easy to lead others, but yourself.

If you want to know your biggest enemy, look at the mirror.

Why so?

• We do not see ourselves as we see others, and therefore, we do not realistically see where our difficulties lie so as to improve ourselves and lead ourselves effectively.
  
• We are harder on others than we are on ourselves. If you are asked to rate or judge yourself, you are easy on yourself and can have a false sense of self. You judge yourself by your intentions but you judge others by their actions.

If we must successfully lead ourselves, we must learn to get out of our own way.

Since I realised that the prerequisite for leading anywhere is how successfully I lead myself well, I took an intentional decision to do 4 things well:

1. Follow well: The future is in danger if those who have never learned to obey are given the right to command. Only those who have followed well knows how to lead others well. Leaders who have never followed or submitted to any authority tend to be prideful, unrealistic, rigid and autocratic. If you want to lead well, follow well. Be mentored, Be pastored, be accountable. Submit to authority.
   
2. Develop Self discipline: We are the “monarch” over our own lives. We are responsible for ruling our actions and decisions. I am brutal with myself. I know that nothing great comes out of a life without discipline. So I choose to be disciplined. It means being hard on myself to do the right things, convenient or not. Be disciplined with your life.
   
3. Practise Patience – I learnt that leadership never happens overnight. That it takes time and consistency. It is not instant coffee or noodles. So I give it time and focus and consistency. Give it time.
   
4. Serve – My favourite scripture is Matthew 20:26-28 – Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. Those were the words of Jesus Christ and it shapes my life. I remind myself daily. My name is Great and if i want to fulfill my potentials and my name, I give my life to service. If you want to lead well, give yourself to service.

Find ways to these 4 things beginning from today and this week. We will be many!

I’m rooting for you,
The Great Owete