THE INSTRUMENT OF LEADERSHIP

As you release tasks to the leaders you're developing, you need to trust them, believe in them, and hold them accountable.

He knew that if you oversee people and you wish to develop leaders, you are responsible to: (1) appreciate them for who they are; (2) believe that they will do their very best; (3) praise their accomplishments; and (4) accept your personal responsibility to them as their leader.

Remind yourself that leadership is a privilege and responsibility more than anything else.

As a leader, you will never get ahead until your people are behind you.

People who think they're leading but have no one following them are only taking a walk.

If you run well but are unable to pass the baton to another runner, you lose the race.

For a team to succeed, responsibility must go down deep into the organization, down to the roots. Getting that to happen requires a leader who will delegate responsibility and authority to the team. Stephen Covey remarked, "People and organizations don't grow much without delegation and completed staff work, because they are confined to the capacities of the boss and reflect both personal strengths and weaknesses." Good leaders seldom restrict their teams; they release them."

As a leader, you don't earn any points for failing in a noble cause. You don't get credit for being right as you bring the organization to a halt. Your success is measured by your ability to actually take the people where they need to go. But you can do that only if the people first buy into you as a leader. That's the reality of the Law of Buy-In.

People don't learn from people they don't value.

There never was yet a people who must not have somebody or something to represent the dignity of the state.

You're not a leader if you haven't been elected.