Helping Leaders Lead
Mind is the Master — power that moulds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass,
Environment is but his looking-glass.
~ James Allen – As A Man Thinketh (1903)
Similar Thoughts Attract Each Other
In the thought-world also, the great law “Like attracts like”, operates. People of similar thoughts are attracted towards each other. That is the reason why the maxims run as follows:
“Birds of the same feather flock together,” “A man is known by the company he keeps.”
A doctor is drawn towards a doctor. A poet has attraction for another poet. A songster loves another songster. A philosopher likes another philosopher. A vagabond likes a vagabond.
The mind has got a ‘drawing power’.
You are continually attracting towards you, from both the seen and the unseen sides of life-forces, thoughts, influences and conditions most akin to those of your own thoughts and lines.
In the realm of thought, people of similar thoughts are attracted to one another. This universal law is continually operating whether we are conscious of it or not.
Carry any kind of thought you please about with you and so long as you retain it, no matter how you roam over the land or sea, you will unceasingly attract to yourself, knowingly or inadvertently, exactly and only what corresponds to your own dominant quality of thought.
Thoughts are your private property and you can regulate them to suit your taste entirely by steadily recognizing your ability to do so.
You have entirely in your own hands to determine the order of thought you entertain and consequently the order of influence you attract and are not mere willowy creatures of circumstances, unless indeed you choose to be.
~ Sri Swami Sivananda, Thought Power
General Qualities of a Personality for Leadership.
~ Donald & Eleanor Laird, The Technique of Building Personal Leadership, (1944)
Live with those with whom you can learn. Let friendly interaction be a school for knowledge, and social contact a school for culture. To make teachers of your friends is to join the need of learning to the joy of conversation. Happiness among those who understand is mutual. They are rewarded for what they say by the approval they receive. And for what they hear, they are rewarded by what they learn. Usually it is personal interest that draws people together, but her it is glorified. A person of understanding seeks out those true aristocrats whose houses are more like stages for an heroic performance than palaces of vanity. There exist in this world people, known to the discerning, who in their bearing are true exemplars of every greatness; even the gathering of those who assist them is an academy of art and learning.
~ Baltasar Gracian, The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)
To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
And the affection of children,
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others,
to leave the world a bit better
whether by a healthy child, a garden patch,
or a redeemed social conditions;
to know even one life has breathed easier
because you lived.
This is to have succeeded.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ask people their opinions, to help build their self-confidence.
Ask them for favors, to arouse their cooperativeness.
Answer their question by turning it back on them.
Ask them “and, in addition to that?” to get to the bottom of things.
Try giving orders in the form of questions to keep cooperation.
Make suggestions to the boss in the form of questions.
Ask questions that will let people talk themselves into a cooperative attitude.
Ask Questions to win cooperation.
~ Donald and Eleanor Laird, The Technique of Handling People (1943)
CAUSES OF FAILURE IN LEADERSHIP.
Any one of these faults is sufficient to induce failure. Study the list carefully if you aspire to be a leader, and make sure you are free of these faults.
1. Inability to organize details. The successful leader must be the master of all details connected with his position. That means, of course, that he must acquire the habit of relegating details to capable lieutenants.
2. Unwillingness to render humble service. “The greatest among ye shall be the servant of all” is a truth which all able leaders observe and respect.
3. Expectation of pay for what they “know” instead of what they do with what they know. The world does not pay people for what they know. It pays them for what they do.
4. Fear of competition from followers. Leaders who fear that one of their followers may take their position is practically sure to realize that fear sooner or later.
5. Lack of imagination. Without imagination, the leader is incapable of meeting emergencies.
6. Selfishness. The really great leader claims none of the honors.
7. Intemperance. Intemperance in any of its forms destroys endurance and the vitality of all who indulge in it.
8. Disloyalty. Disloyalty marks one as being less than the dust of the earth.
9. Emphasis on the “authority” of leadership. If a leader is a real leader, he will have no need to advertise that fact except by his conduct — his sympathy, understanding, fairness, and a demonstration that he knows his job.”
10. Emphasis of title. The people who make too much over their title generally have little else to emphasize.
If you can identify leadership failures you will start to see trends on where they are happening. Every time you turn on the news you see an example of someone failing as a leader. Napoleon Hill identified a number of areas back in 1937 that needed what he referred to as LEADERSHIP BY CONSENT.
~ Napoleon Hill, Think & Grow Rich (1937)
One Further Step.
Do more than exist: live.
Do more than touch: feel.
Do more than look: observe.
Do more than read: absorb.
Do more than hear: listen.
Do more than think: reflect.
Do more than just talk: say something.
~ Author Unknown
Extract from the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Leadership depends on simple human qualities. Above all, a leader requires the confidence of his men and this is to be gained only by commanding their respect for his personal character and professional knowledge; his sense of justice and common-sense; his energy, keenness and fore-thought; his indifference to personal danger and readiness to share the men’s hardships; his cheerfulness in the face of difficulties; the clearness and simplicity of his orders and his firm insistence on their execution; the pride he takes in his command.
~ Donald A. and Eleanor C. Laird, The Technique of Handling People (1943)
SO long as animal conditions taste sweet to a man, he cannot aspire: he is so far satisfied; but when their sweetness turns to bitterness, then in his sorrow he thinks of nobler things. When he is deprived of earthly joy, he aspires to the joy which is heavenly. It is when impurity turns to suffering that purity is sought. Truly aspiration rises, phoenix-like, from the dead ashes of repentance, but on its powerful pinions man can reach the heaven of heavens.
The man of aspiration has entered the way which leads to peace; and surely he will reach that end if he stays not nor turns back. If he constantly renews his mind with glimpses of the heavenly vision, he will reach the heavenly state.
That which can be conceived can be achieved.
~ James Allen, Daily Meditations
