Innovative leadership: 7 Keys To Being Considered A World Class Leader is a guest article written by Christopher Pinckley.
Did you notice the way this article is worded? It says “being considered” a world class leader. The reason this article is worded in such a way is because you don’t get to decide that you are a world class leader.
In fact, if you think you are, then you probably aren’t. Why? Because this is a strong indicator that your ego may be in charge and when this happens it becomes a little bit more about “you” and a little bit less about “others”. This is why it is better to be “considered” a world class leader because this means that someone other than you thinks it to be thus.
In a power vs. force universe it is akin to gaining the respect of the people around you rather than forcing them to acquiesce to your mission. This means that people gravitate towards you, enjoy being around you, and will listen to your words with an open mind. These are all indicators of a more powerful leader.
On the other hand, when using force it is usually ego driven, directive and closed off. In other words, leaders who are forceful will usually never make it to a point where they may be considered as world class because they are often egotistical, inconsiderate of their team and closed off to new ways of doing things.
In this newly emerging world, with endless possibilities, new leaders are emerging daily. It’s important to understand that you have an important choice as two roads open before you: one is the road of power, the other that of force. The road to force is the lesser road and involves a lot of arguing, sleepless nights, stress and isolation. Whereas the road to power, is the road which leads you to cooperation, collaboration and success.
So here are 7 keys to being considered a world class leader…
Key #1: You First:
In an ironic twist, the first key to being considered as a world class leader is that you take care of yourself. When I say taking care of yourself I mean in body, mind, and spirit. In other words, you lead an integrated lifestyle, where all the facets of you are honored. You exercise for your body, you read and expand your knowledge for your mind, and you take time to meditate and relax for your spirit.
Without all of these facets in place, it is difficult to reach the caliber of the world class. The strange and ironic reason for this is that, people who take time to take care of themselves, are more likely to want to help you to take care of yourself as well.
A leader who takes the time out to take care of themselves also brings a much higher caliber of focused energy to the table and is able to accomplish more with less time and energy.
Key #2: Focus Upon Positive:
World class leaders are more apt to notice and focus upon the positive attributes of their team. Interestingly, you will find it difficult to catch a world class leader ever bringing up anything negative about the people they work with or who work under them. Their focus is almost always exclusively upon the positive facets of their team and employees, noticing what they are doing well and praising them for it.
It’s a state of mind which, for many people, is a muscle that must be worked. These individuals were either very lucky with the family they were born into or they learned it somewhere along the way. It’s the ability to focus upon the positive aspects of the people around them. This quality makes them magnetic and draws, eventually, thousands of people to them.
Key #3: Never Complain:
In conjuncture with #2, world class leaders will very seldom get caught complaining about circumstances. In fact, world class leaders hardly ever externalize responsibility to anything other than themselves.
The world class leader recognizes and takes responsibility for every single thing happening within their company, team, and their life in general. I’ve never seen a world class leader point a finger at anything, ever. In their eyes to do so is to instantly diminish their own power and ability to affect change in the world. Thus, the world class leader never complains about circumstances.
Key #4: Hire Slowly, Fire Quickly:
The world class leaders, recognizing the vital importance of delegation and team-building, will go through excruciating lengths to find the exact right people to work with. What this means is that there is often a lengthy, drawn out, sifting process through which they put potential hires through who are interested in working with their company.
The person or individual may have to go through several interviews and spend hours talking to different people to get into their company. The world class leader is deciding whether they want you to be a part of their inner circle or not, so they will take their time. Conversely, if there is a boundary cross, or they feel as if you are not congruent to the mission statement of the company or their own personal standard of business, they will not hesitate to let you go.
It is not because they are cold and ruthless, it is simply because it is energetically draining to try to get someone to think the way you think.
Leaders who try to work with people to get them to slowly but surely acquiesce to their way of thinking and doing things, find that it is a “forever maintenance” job. This means constantly be monitoring, to make sure others are doing things the way they want them to be done.
There is also the risk that an employee might hold a grudge against you. All in all, better to just be done with it and move on, which is exactly what world class leaders do.
Better to just be done with it and move on! Share on XKey #5: Child-like Innocence:
This attribute is difficult for many to comprehend, and yet is a primary hallmark of all world class leaders.
If you spend any time with a world class leader, you will begin to notice a certain innocence or what could be easily misconstrued as naiveté.
They have an inner glow that is due to their connection with their inner child which makes them both magnetic as well as playful.
They enjoy humor and having fun as well as a good joke. In fact, about the only time that they really appear serious is in the process of problem solving. Even then, they will still often be smiling or appear to be having fun.
The connection they have to their inner child gives them a certain innocence that many people just don’t understand. In the beginning stages, they are often not taken seriously in a business setting. It’s not until they are suddenly worth over one hundred million dollars that people begin to realize who they are dealing with.
Even then, many people will mistakenly think that they “got lucky”, when the reality is that this very same innocence is what allowed them to transcend limited thinking and maintain a connection to their creative nature. In fact, if they aren’t having fun, they won’t do it.
Key #6: Ready, Fire, Aim:
Yes, you read that right! World class leaders are well known for this one. This is the attribute which has them wading into the deep end of the pool before they have even learned how to swim.
Their attitude is to just get started and learn along the way. And, indeed, this attitude, in just about every scenario, serves them quite well.
As a result of this attitude they are executing business after business while others are still sitting on the sidelines trying to come up with the perfect business plan.
When you combine this with attributes 4 and 5, this means that: attribute 5 helps them to continue to come up with creative and innovate business ideas, and 4 helps them to pick the perfect team to execute them.
They continue to move onwards and upwards, creating, building and executing ideas. They do not get caught up in the legalities, technicalities, or parameters in any regard. In fact, this is what makes them key innovators in the world, which is due to the fact that they ignore anything even remotely conventional.
They do not analyze statistics, they solve problems. They do not do what they think they should, they do what they know they want.
Key #7: Generous:
Spending time with a world class leader you are bound to notice another inherent characteristic, their generosity.
It’s true that world class leaders, due to their inevitable financial success, eventually learn that they must create boundaries. However, for those who are lucky enough to be in their inner circle, as well as charitable foundations with worthy causes, you find out that these people are big “givers”.
They will often donate huge sums of money to charities as well as help friends and family in need. They do not relish the idea of simply helping someone who needs money, but they will definitely help you if you are already doing the best you can.
They won’t foster a codependent relationship, but they feel good about helping someone who is already in the process of helping themselves. In this case, they will often go above and beyond the call of duty to help you to achieve your vision, if you are already doing everything you can to make it happen on your own. They enjoy giving when it is going towards something that is productive.
World class leaders are key, global innovators, who bring new paradigms to the business world through their connection to creativity and their exclusive pursuit of that which brings the most joy.
They love being creative and will focus upon the positive to the point of frustration for those who do not understand.
Yet, in order to rise up to this level of leadership, begin to consider these characteristics, not only in a business sense, but as a way of life in general.
Author: (ad) Christopher A. Pinckley is the street level spiritualist, writer, illuminator, creator of the Emotional Integration Technique, and author of the popular spiritual book Reality Creation 101.
His life’s work is to help people to awaken and become present within their lives and businesses.
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