Becoming an Effective Leader #3

I believe we are all leaders in this world. That is because we have influence over each other. Every decision we make leads us to take an action. These actions then influence others which leads them to make decisions. If we all follow the simple principles of love we can all have a positive influence on each other. It is true that one can change the world by changing themselves.

That is why I have decided to summarize the book I have recently read, The Servant by James C. Hunter. Although I am not 100% with the narrative and the style of this book, I truly cherish the simplicity of it.

By collecting these notes in a handful of simple blogs, I will be able to review the important lessons I have learnt. I also get to share these notes with my favorite online community, the steemians!

We steemians have big dreams and ambitions. Therefore it is imperative to be responsible for our actions. Our principles come from a good place, and we seek these principles to influence others. By having a positive influence, we can open minds and encourage others to join the great community we have created here.

I have outlined some of the important point in the book here. I hope you all enjoy :)

Leaders never cut people off:

Leaders never cut people off. When you cut people off you are sending them the following messages:

• You obviously have not been listening to their point if you’ve already formulated your response in your head
• You do not value me or my opinion because you refuse to take the time to hear me out
• Lastly, you believe that what you have to say is much more important than what I have to say

As a leader, you can not afford to send these disrespectful messages across to people you are working with.

Leaders are good listeners:

One of the qualities of a leader is to respect others. Respect has to come from a good place and can not be fakes. Therefore your feelings of respect must be aligned with your actions of respect.

When you are listening to someone, you must pay enough attention so that you make the other person feel there is nothing else in the world that matters more that what I am saying. To listen, you must:

• Look directly into their eyes
• Nod your head as you understand the points
• Once they are finished you can ask questions and emphasize your points, but do not interrupt them before they are done
• Better than that is to compliment and thank the person for sharing their thoughts with you and summarizing briefly the points you liked regarding their thoughts

Leaders constantly change their paradigms:

As a leader, one must understand their paradigms. Paradigms are physiological patterns, models, or maps we use to navigate our way through life. Paradigms can both life saving or be dangerous. They filter out new information and the changing times that are coming at us through life.

• An example of a dangerous paradigm is a little girl that had an abusive father during her childhood. Her paradigm would most likely be formed that grown men can not be trusted. Onces she transfers that paradigm in her adult world she will probably run into severe difficulties with men
• It is therefore important that we keep changing our paradigms about ourselves, the world, around us, our organizations, and people

Remember, the outside world enters our consciousness through the filters of our paradigms. And out paradigms are not always accurate

Leaders embrace change:

A leader must also properly deal with change. Change takes us out of our comfort zone and forces us to do things differently. These challenges to our ideas force us to rethink our position, and that’s always uncomfortable. Without change a leader can not improve. The obstacles created through change generates outstanding leaders.