Leadership... It's all about me!

Of course it's all about me! What were you thinking?

Now before you slam it down on me, hear me out yeah?

To paraphrase Gandhi, I must be the change that I want to see in the world. Hence of course leadership must first be all about me.

Until I am able to effectively lead myself, I can forget about leading others; let alone engage them. John Maxwell, in Chapter 2 of Leadership Gold, talked about the most difficult person to lead in the world is myself.

Walt and Selby Kelly themselves wrote and animated We Have Met the Enemy, And He Is Us in 1970. Covey said, "when you think the problem is out there, that very thought is the problem".

Hence, going by the wisdom of so many great men, I've come to believe it is without a doubt the truth. In fact, in the Principles of Engaged Mastery (TM) program, we urge participants to first master the art of self-mastery through the continual practice of four key principles: self-discipline, vision, rectitude, and legacy.

I firmly believe if you find a leader, look out for his level of self-discipline. You'd be amazed. Successful people hate it as much as less successful people when it comes to taking action. What makes them successful is their ability to subordinate their feelings and do it anyway. Less successful people just look for reasons or excuses for not doing it.

Another area that we can learn from leaders is how they manage their actions around time. There is no way anyone, save God, can manage time. Its simply a misnomer. But what we can manage is what we would within a given time-frame.

David Allen, the founder of Getting Things Done, taught me about the 2-minute concept. He said, if something can be done (and be done with it) within 2 minutes; do it. Don't wait, don't procrastinate, don't re-schedule it. Reason is simple. It takes more than 2 minutes to re-schedule it; so you are better off just getting it out of the way.

Will be back with the other three; reaching my stop in the subway.

Your friend,
Melvyn
(Sent from my Blackberry Bold)