You are Born to Be A Leader - Part 3

 

In Part 2, I referred to Poet Rumi, who says “you were born with potential…. You were born with wings.” This is true of every single human born on planet earth. Yet, too many, just too many of us don’t believe it. It seems the circumstances of our birth, all, but destroyed the Divine spark in us. (Refer to my Blog Post “Debbie Ford”)

In the words of Eleni Makedonas,“I can say with confidence that the moment a person truly starts down the path of self-discovery, they will never turn back”. (Refer to my Blog Post “The Journey of Self-Discovery! My Decision to Find Myself!”, Eleni Makedonas)

 The American English Dictionary defines self-discovery as follows:

“a becoming aware of one’s true potential, character, motives, etc.”

It is up to each one of us to recognize our true potential, redeem ourselves, to relight this spark, so that our light truly shines before the world; so that we become leaders, rather than “crawlers”.

The best way to overcome fear they say is to face what you fear head on. So let us take a look at some qualities of a leader. I’m sure we’ll all qualify:

1.     Honesty and Integrity: Dwight.D.Eisenhower once said, “The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity”. 

2.     Self-Confidence: To be an effective leader one must have the confidence to make decisions and ensure that others will carry out his commands.

3.     Inspire Others: You must be a Beacon of Light, an Inspiration.

4.     Commitment and Passion: When your teammates see you getting your hands dirty, they will also give their best shot.

5.     Good Communicator: A good Leader must be able to clearly communicate his vision and Goal to his followers.

6.     Decision-Making Capabilities: A good leader must have the ability to take the right decision at the right time.

7.     Accountability: “A good leader takes little more than his share of the blame and little less than his share of the credit.” In the words of Arnold H Glasow.

8.     Delegation and Empowerment: A good leader empowers his followers and delegates tasks to them.

9.     Creativity and Innovation: In the words of Steve Jobs, “Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”

10.  Empathy: Understanding the problems of your followers and feeling their pain is the first step to become an effective leader. Even that is not enough until you work hard and provide your followers with the suitable solution to their problems.

Conclusion:

To become a good leader, you must have all these qualities but if you lack some of these qualities, then you might struggle to make the mark in the world of leadership. You will have to set a good example for others to follow. That is where your commitment, passion, empathy, honesty and integrity come into play. Good communication skills and decision-making capabilities also play a vital role in success and failure of a leader. Lastly, innovation and creative thinking, as well as the futuristic vision, are a couple of key traits which make a leader stand out.

So believe in youself. You were given the gift of life for a purpose. That purpose is to find yourself, to find the Divine in you. God Bless you.

You Are Born To Be A Leader! - Part 2

Rumi

You Are Born With Wings, Learn to Fly!   

  Let me begin with a quote from Rumi:                                  

  You were born with potential. 

  You were born with goodness and trust. 

  You were born with ideals and dreams. 

  You were born with greatness. 

  You were born with wings. 

                                          You are not mean for crawling, so  don't. 

                                          You have wings. 

                                          Learn to use them and fly.

In my last blog post, the first of this series, I spoke a lot about the circumstances of our birth, that mostly straddle us for many years. And I would guess many of us go to our grave without ever having sung our song, or danced our dance. That is without ever having enjoyed this experience called life, let alone teaching others how to enjoy life.

The above words of Rumi, have always inspired me and challenged me. I was certainly one of those Eagles raised as a barnyard chicken who never never knew I could soar higher than the highest mountain, until a certain scripture passage from the Book of Genesis (OT) pierced my heart: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him" Gen 1/27. That was a shocker for me. A bolt that slowly woke me up from my lethargy and self pity.

To many the above scripture quote might mean nothing, might not create any stirrings of the heart. But it stopped me in my tracks. It made me take a second look at my self, my beliefs and meaning of life. If it was really true I was made in the image and likeness of God, then why was I behaving like a nerd thinking life (and God) had dealt me a bad hand.

A spark of fire began to burn in me. I began to re-evaluate my beliefs and soon realised that I was living not my life but the life of others - my parents, my teachers and may others. 

Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you. And see, you were within and I was in the external world and sought you there, and in my unlovely state I plunged into those lovely created things which you made. You were with me, and I was not with you. The lovely things kept me far from you, though if they did not have their existence in you, they had no existence at all. You called and cried out loud and shattered my deafness. You were radiant and resplendent, you put to flight my blindness. You were fragrant, and I drew in my breath and now pant after you. I tasted you, and I feel but hunger and thirst for you. You touched me, and I am set on fire to attain the peace which is yours.”

This is the famous passage from St. Augustine’s Confessions in which Saint Augustine states “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.”

Wait for the next post

You Are Born To Be A Leader!

Introduction:

Has it ever occured to you that by virtue of your birth, you are born to be a leader and guide. No matter who you are, what your background or situation, cast or creed, rich or poor, male or female. By virtue of belonging to the human family, you are meant to be a Leader from the very first moment of your existence. Meaning to say, you are born to be a teacher, a guide, a giver of life, a leader, To quote Jesus: "The thief come only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure." Jn 10:10. I believe, like Jesus we are all born to give life.

Unfortunately this does not really happen, does it? I mean most of us if not all, rarely feel we are Leaders or Life Givers right from birth. On the contrary most of us feel we are victims. Life seems to be painful, or at best meaningless and a struggle.

Being born of Parents who were themselves victims and sufferers, we soon learn from them to become carbon copies and think that this is the truth about life. Life is a struggle. We soon identify with the negatives of life, and often get drowned in them. We learn to distrust ourselves and others. We learn that we are not complete in ourselves and need others, material things and power to make us happy. We learn fear, anger, hatred and more. Soon unhappiness becomes a way of life.

A sad outcome of all this is that we begin to look outside of ourselves to fulfill the emptiness within, to find peace and pleasure; not realising that we are stepping into sinking sand and only getting sucked deeply into misery, fear, hate and suffering. Short term pleasure and quick fixes like alchohol, drugs, sex as well as emotional addictions and conflicts become our staple.

What do you  have to say? Please write your comments and questions.

Take time to reflect on the above and look forward to my next Post.