Why Leadership Matters A Lot More
Many people believe that leadership is about leading people, however, I have realized that leadership is first about leading oneself rather than leading people and only when you can successfully lead yourself can you be able to lead others. The stories of great men come to mind and it would not have been possible for them to achieve great leadership if they were not first willing to lead themselves.
Take Mahatma Gandhi. He was willing and ready to lead himself in the path of denying himself food until what he wanted was realized. Think about that for a minute. While he was doing that, I strongly believe he was not considering that a way to lead people, but because he was able to lead and control himself well, others followed in his path. Leadership is more about people believing and following in your path rather than simply going the way you direct them to.
Beyond the story of Gandhi, the history of Mandela comes to mind. A man that was willing to sacrifice the prime years of his life is a man anyone would be willing to follow. As such, leadership is more about how you are leading yourself and your life rather than how you are leading other people. Until you are able to lead yourself from where you are to where you want to be, only then can people truly follow you and then you become a leader. It is important to realize that being the first does not necessarily make you a leader, what makes you more of a leader is the willingness to pursue something that not every individual can pursue.
Only when you are able to create a distinction between who you are and who you want to become then people would follow. I believe people look every day for guidance and people are searching for people who have gone out of their ways to make something important for themselves. And only those people are people willing to follow. Leadership is about people giving control to you not only because you command it, but because they realize that they can also become as important and as useful as you have become.
Anyone can give a command and people would obey, but only a few more can indeed deserve the command and people would follow without even giving the command. But it is important to realize that simply because we can lead ourselves, others would simply follow. No, it would take a while to happen. Sometimes, good things do not come early. Mandela did not realize it until after 27 years and Gandhi did not achieve it in a day.
The success, in the end, would be worthwhile all the pain I promise you, but you must realize that being a leader is more about believing without necessarily seeing it. So to everyone out there, before you seek for a leader, ensure that you are yourself leading yourself in the right path and the right way. Lead yourself right, seek good virtues, and be of importance to people. In the end, the lives we have touched are the most important impact we can ever make. So take your time today and lead well. Remember leadership begins with leading yourself right. Thanks and God Bless.
