Dear Leader,
It’s a new week and I trust my letter today meets you in pursuit of wisdom.
I have been a student of leadership for over a decade now, and my goal is to remain a student of leadership till the end of my journey.
As a student of leadership and as I improved in practicing and teaching leadership, I came up with a framework for leading that works for me.
People say that leadership is difficult to define. So far, I believe if it is difficult for you to define leadership, at least you can acknowledge it when you see one. For me it is a combination of Clarity + Competence + Character + Connection + Courage + Consistency = Leadership
- Clarity – I believe true leadership begins with purpose – clear purpose. Knowing why, knowing what, setting direction and aligning goals. How else do you measure leadership if you don’t know where we are going? So start with purpose in everything.
- Competence – is the ability to do a job well. If you want to lead in your workplace, competence is the core. Because if you cannot do your job well and you cannot deliver results, if you cannot inspire and motivate the team to produce results, why should anyone follow you? Influence is not something you buy with cash or pay with POS. It is not given to you by birth or by superiors. It is earned by you from others. You don’t have it until you have proven yourself worthy of it in the eyes of all.
If you ask me, How do you build competence?
A. By giving your best in the small stuff. It is in the little things done excellently well we build competence that the big things take care of themselves. Doing your excellence to full completion helps you develop a reputation for competence. Strive towards excellence in every job.
B. Learn how to engage with people, motivating and inspiring them to work together. If you only do your job well and you don’t know how to motivate and inspire others, your leadership will be limited. - Character – is ensuring you have the right motives, right values, right beliefs and actions. There is a lot you must do RIGHT to develop influence, and competence alone is not enough.
What character comes to is not “perfection” but ensuring that our intentions are right and the motives of our heart is good, because a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. There are many competent thieves in the world. What is the use?
Character is a private matter. Just like a tree, you see the branches and the trunks that bear the fruit. Those are public but we do not see the roots. Who we are in private is what cannot be seen and that is character. If the roots are shallow, the trees cannot survive storms but if the roots are deep, the tree will survive any circumstances.
That is YOU and I. Our roots must run deep – Character. Build strong character.
If you ask me to break down character, I’ll tell you to:
A. Have integrity. Let your values and actions align. Do the right thing even when it is hard and doesn’t benefit you personally.
B. Be authentic – People do not want to follow leaders who pretend to be what they are not. People do not want you to be perfect, they want you to be honest. Don’t promote what you do not believe in. I don’t teach leadership because I am an expert, I teach it because I believe it, I have experienced it and I live it.
C. Be Humble – Be so secured that you do not need to draw attention to yourself. Have a sense of self awareness.
D. Love – You must care about people. Respect people. Value them - Courage – I believe that Competence alone cannot earn you leadership. Most times, you will have to pursue your dreams in the face of fear and this is what courage is about. Courage is that ability that helps you face great obstacles.
Your leadership and influence will shrink or expand in proportion to your courage. I know we all admire people who make bold moves and act on their ideas, but what you do not know is that all of them were afraid. They are doing it afraid.
Courage is needed to make bold moves during difficult and uncertain times. You cannot maximise your potential without courage. Courage cannot be touched with your hands but you know it when you see it.
Remember that David & Goliath story? While everyone was cowering in fear, David took the courage to fight the philistine giant. But do you know that after David took down Goliath, the rest of the army of Israel who were once afraid, found their courage to attack the rest of the philistine army. That is why courage is needed in leadership. David’s courage inspired his people to do their best.
As a leader, If you are going to inspire others to maximise your potential, you need courage.
Courage is simply, doing it afraid. - Consistency – Doing all things we have mentioned above, all the time, not just sometimes.
Consistency compounds in a surprising way. If you do the right things when you are young, it mostly goes unnoticed and unrecognised. But if you do the right things and lead well over decades, it becomes recognised and you get more credit than you deserve.
Practice consistency. Live out your values and do your work excellently. Your reward may not be immediate but your influence is sure.
The reason we have fewer leaders in the world is because consistency is difficult. Anybody can be good once, but consistency is showing up always and this makes you trusted.
To your clarity, add competence, to competence, add character, and to you character, add courage, and to all these, be consistent.
Every leader I know wants to make an impact. What do you want to do with our leadership?
Think along this equation this week.
I’m rooting for you,
The Great Owete
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