Anyone Can Lead E-Book

Susmita Dutta

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Seitenzahl: 133

Beschreibung

Are you a Leader? If the answer is NO, I can confidently tell you, you may be WRONG. Why? Because whether you like it or not, everyone of us needs to play a leadership role in some part of our lives, it could be work, it could be home, or it could be as simple as organizing an event or managing a dinner party. So, you simply don’t have a choice! Some are born leaders, some achieve leadership, and some have leadership thrust upon them.

Now, the big question is, do you want to improve your leadership, so as to create more impact and touch people's lives? The good news is anyone can be a great leader if he/she learns the timeless leadership principles and follow them in their lives. In this book, Susmita and Akshay describe these timeless leadership principles and detail the exact steps needed in order to take your leadership to the next level.

Business Professionals and entrepreneurs alike learn how to:

•Leading with the wisdom of servile leadership

•Leading change with emotional intelligence

•Constructing leadership by storytelling

Impactful leaders follow these principles to create more impact in people’s lives. The truest secret to success is having the ability to follow these principles to achieve and improve your own leadership style.

Leseprobe

ANYONE CAN LEAD

You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader

ANYONE CAN LEAD

You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader

SUSMITA DUTTA

AKSHAY GOEL

Anyone Can Lead: You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader

By Susmita Dutta and Akshay Goel

©2020 Susmita Dutta. All rights reserved.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distrib-uted, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher (except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages and/or show brief video clips in a review).

ISBN: 978-1-7332041-4-9

Book Design & Publishing done by:

Susmita Dutta

Global Book Publishing

www.globalbookpublishing.com

[email protected]

Disclaimer:The Publisher and the Authors make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy and completeness of this work and specially disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contain herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the under-standing that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the Publisher nor the Author shall be liable for the damages arising here from. Then fact that an organization or website is referred to in this work as a citation or potential source of further information does not mean that the Author or the Publisher endorses the information the organization or the website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that internet websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is used.

This book is dedicated to my parents Dr. V.K. Goel and Dr. Sharda Goel, and sister Swati; their selflessness and love will always be remembered.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction i

Chapter 1:The Unexpected Wisdom of Servile Leadership 1

Chapter2:Leading Change with Emotional Intelligence 11

Chapter3:The Art of Constructive Praise 27

Chapter 4:Business and Ethics in Leadership 32

Chapter5:Conscious Leadership 38

Chapter 6:Storytelling in Leadership 51

Chapter 7:Storytelling In The Modern World 79

Chapter 8:Characteristics Every Great Leader Needs 85

Chapter 9: Questions To Ask 107

i

INTRODUCTION

During the course of my career as a chief editor and a program manager leading people, I have had so many occasions where a junior staff member asked, “Ma’am, I am being appraised on my leadership skills; how can my boss figure out my abilities as a leader? I have had no opportunity to showcase my skills in my current role, as I am at the bottom of the pyramid.”

What would be your response if you were asked this question?

Have you ever considered how a leader actually becomes a leader? Is it when there is a title associated with the individual that says so? Is it when there is a team reporting back to the individual? Or Is it when there is a sea of followers looking up to him or her?

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Anyone Can Lead: You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader

In my opinion, anyone can be a leader in various fac-ets of life You can be a leader in your office, at your home, or out with friends. Let me explain.

Consider the time your friend was facing issues in understanding a certain topic and you stepped in to help, or the time in the office when a new employee joined your department and you spent hours explaining the functions of the department’s job requirements and employer expectations. For those amongst you who have young kids, do you remember helping your child hold a pen or pencil for the first time? All these life experiences demonstrate leadership skills. When was the last time you realized that you needed to develop a skill to be able to do something specific, and you put in a lot of effort to equip yourself with that particular skill?

Are you wondering whether or not that is showing leadership? Let me tell you: yes, of course it is! You lead Up, lead Down, lead In, and lead Out. leadership doesn’t only mean leading someone who is reporting to you in your company or organization that you are working with. In reality, leadership is about people; it has nothing to do with any title. Being a leader isn’t easy.

Every individual is unique and comes from a different background. Everyone has a different thought process. So, leadership is all about understanding people and the initiative that you take when you know you can contribute in a certain situation and raise your hand to volunteer yourself to take charge of the situation.

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INTRODUCTION

Organizations worldwide have created an artificial hype over so-called leadership titles like, “CEO”, “VP”, and “GM”. You don’t need any title to become a leader, because these titles are more dedicated to having power over others than being a true leader. If you want to be a true leader, you must inspire people through your actions—be them your employees, your co-workers, your friends, or your family.

Don’t be afraid of a challenge. Standing up for your beliefs, presenting your own view as an alternative way to reach the goal, and discussing options are all ways to demonstrate your leadership skills. When you see your peer do something wrong and you stop the individual doing the act, you just have had an influence. That is actually a form of great leadership. Well done!

Unfortunately, this logic works the other way as well. If you are a good leader with misguided values, you may be influencing others around you to perform antisocial or destructive acts. For example: was Hitler a good leader? I will leave this to you to decide. I want you to think and express your opinion in the comments section of this book, so others can see it and take part in the discussion. However, I would like to request that you keep the discussion constructive in nature. In my opinion, it is very important to be a good person first, before you decide to lead others, because your followers are going to emulate your behavior. So, let’s understand this in detail .

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Anyone Can Lead: You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader

Everything Starts with YOU

As Israelmore Ayivor said, “A self-leader looks around for problems, and then thinks deep to devise solutions to them.”

If you cannot lead yourself, then you can never lead anyone else. Self-leadership is the greatest challenge for anyone as a leader. Spend quiet time with yourself to know yourself. Discover who you are, what you want to achieve, and how you will get there. True leaders know who they are and what they stand for. They know their values and the rules they will abide by, regardless of the circumstances they face. They allow their people to understand the values they are committed to uphold, which lays a foundation for the rules their people will be expected to adhere to. Learn from your experiences, develop self-discipline, and take action. Always stay connected with people and look for opportunities, because this will add to your knowledge. True leaders both know and communicate their values openly with the people they lead, creating an atmosphere of certainty and trust. A successful leader doesn’t move without practical, definite plans. They plan their work and work their plan.

Focus on People, NOT Power

I want to reiterate the fact that it is very important to be a relationship-driven leader, instead of a title-driven

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INTRODUCTION

one. That said, there is no harm in being a CEO, as long as your main leadership goal is human-centric rather that power-driven. You can’t lead people unless you value every relationship and understand them.

No matter what title the employee you’re talking to holds, always remember that there is a person behind that job profile — they’re more than a mere designation. Treat everyone as a person, not a tool or resource. Always try to add some value to other’s lives.

To this end, Integrity should be at the very core of your influence. Living up to the values you possess, your beliefs will give you credibility and allow others to place their trust in YOU. If you want to become an effective leader, start saying, “Do as I do,” rather than, “Do as I say,” because you can only lead by example, and your people will love to follow you because they will be in the same boat. They will feel valued and important enough to take the journey with you.

I worked as a senior project manager and I used to handle three different teams with three different team leads reporting to me. I wasn’t expected to interact with individual team members. I could only talk with them like the rest of the managers. Nonetheless, I always valued my relations more than the work, and I made sure to meet each one of my team members. Moreover, I conducted training sessions to learn more about their concerns. I knew each and every one of them, along with their family members.

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Anyone Can Lead: You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader

I built relationship with them so that when they were in need, they felt free to come to me for help, instead of wasting time agonizing over something they couldn’t figure out on their own. I fought for their bonuses, and I fought when they were right. In return, I received the best employee award, and my clients loved my punctual work. I was the best in the client’s eye, and I could not have done this without the support of each and every member of my team. People from my team voluntarily stayed late just to finish my work on time because they loved me, not my position as a manager. And guess what: even after five years after leaving my job, I still ask them for help and received it.

Remember one thing only: nobody will remember your position, but they will forever remember how you made them feel. To become a good leader, you must make your people feel important about themselves, and—take my words to heart—your returns will be amazing.

There Isn’t Any Magic Pill Of Leadership

You have to practice everything that I am telling you in this book on a regular basis, and it’s my BOLD promise that if you do, you will become an amazing leader in no time.

If you want to become a good leader, then learn to work right alongside the people you lead, in order to get to know and care about the people you are leading.

vii

INTRODUCTION

Working with people will allow you to lift and inspire your team.

True leaders listen without being condescending. They are willing to hear what others have to say without rushing to judgment. They are patient and genuine in their desire to understand the thoughts and feelings of the people they lead.

True leaders are forthright with their people. They communicate openly and often. True leaders take the time to engage with people in order to show that they are valued and important to them. They understand that, as the leader, they have an obligation to communicate directly with their people so they never allow a void. True leaders take on the responsibility of communicating for themselves.

With this, let’s move on to our first chapter which is servile leadership.

1

The Unexpected Wisdom Of Servile Leadership

If we go by history, we are forced to have a stereotypical image of a leader as either commanding an army or sitting behind a big, shining, mahogany desk, giving out orders or even lecturing large audiences—never the listening kind. Such images of leaders get us into trouble as we try to emulate them, because very soon we become dysfunctional in our roles if we follow these clichés alone. The real strength of a leader isn’t the ability to intimidate but draw out the strength of the team that they are leading.

“Servile leadership”. Remember this phrase if it’s the only thing you remember from this whole book. True leaders are servants of their people. Humility comes

1

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Anyone Can Lead: You Don’t Need A Title To Be A Leader

naturally to the best leaders. They seldom take credit themselves but instead give credit to the team they lead.

They make life easier for their team by being a con-fidante, counselling them, arranging situations, smooth-ing out processes, removing barriers and finding ways to release the creativity of the team.

Let me explain this with an example. Everyone is aware of the hierarchy pyramid wherein the CEO represents the capstone as the leader. Now, look at the inverted pyramid. This is how the leadership pyramid should look. The customers should always be on top of the charts. The front-line executive dealing with the customer is the level just below, followed by the supervisor, the manager and the vice president. The CEO is at the bottom of this inverted pyramid.

On your path to become an exceptional leader, you must be willing to be of service to your people. The first and foremost challenge for a leader is the assuming of a servile disposition. I have always been a firm believer that you get back in life what you have given out. Give whatever you want in life and you will get it back in new, beautiful forms. If you want a smile from someone, first give out a smile. If you want love, give love. You learn most when you teach. You gain the best friendship if you are willing to give your best in the friendship . . . and the list goes on and on!

I know that in the leadership role there is always another leader above us, and we tend to think that if we are not in the limelight, we might not get recognized. I

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The Unexpected Wisdom Of Servile Leadership

am sure many among you might be thinking exactly this right now. Am I right?

Well! Let me put it this way: if you wanted to hog the limelight and be at center-stage at the expense of your people, someone would surely find reason to put you out. However, if you chose to place your people there and recede from the spotlight, someone would find a way to give you due attention. To get care from the team, you have to give care. Even a simple lesson like this can take leaders a lifetime to learn.

I have seen so many organizations, in their zeal to promote great technical delivery, reward their star performers and make them be Team leaders. Unfor-tunately, in quite a few cases, they lose a star tech-nical performer and gain a lousy Team leader. For-tunately, that age-old question now has an answer. Are leaders born? The answer is “No.” Just like any other skill, leadership savvy can be developed and groomed. Anyone can become a great leader over time.

So, becoming a servant leader sounds pretty straight-forward so far, but, as with most things, it’s far easier to talk the talk than to walk the walk. Here are suggestions for ways to reorganize your personal and professional habits to improve your servile leadership qualities.

Listening

You’ll serve people better when you make a deep commitment to listening intently to