Leadership that lasts
Bold
I believe that the foundation of leadership that lasts begins with a level of being bold. Being bold is essential because one must overcome the fear of failure without becoming cocky or arrogant. The bold trait enables you to try something without overstepping or making others feel small. This is an external facing trait. Others can see how bold you are. This trait naturally leads to confidence.
Confidence
Now that we have explored being bold, we can discuss being confident. Confidence is having the inner belief that you can do all things. Some may call this faith. As a firm believer in Christ, I will use this confidence and faith to go hand in hand. Being confident is the internal representation of being bold. Sure, you can be bold without being confident, but the two together are wonderful. The bold trait may be very dominant, so it is a dangerous thing to have confidence without understanding that you can be bold without being aggressive. This discussion of confidence transitions nicely into the idea of being curious.
Curious
Curiosity is a sign of intelligence. Curiosity is a beautiful trait. A curious mind is always wanting to know more. A curious soul is open to new ideas and concepts. Curiosity must be seen as an internal trait that the spoken word can externalize. As the first three traits set the leadership stage, the last two features solidify the lasting aspect.
Humility
Humility is a foundational trait. You either are, or you are not a humble person. Yes, we can learn how to become more humble, but if a person has a natural feeling to be braggadocious, they may feel drained by staying humble. As humility is one half of the top level, the final trait is being empathic.
Empathy
Empathy is such a great trait that there should already be enough research on this topic. I should be able to give you a title of a book and write, ”ditto”. However, it is not that easy. Empathy is a God-given talent that can be groomed and harvested.
This is a framework for The Leadership That Lasts.
Credit: Dr. James D. Washington, DBA