Portrait of a Leader

A Portrait of a Leader (Part 1)


At the age of seven, a young boy and his family were forced out of their home. The boy had to work to support his family. At the age of nine, his mother passed away. When he grew up, the young man was keen to go to law school, but had no education.

At 22, he lost his job as a store clerk. At 23, he ran for state legislature and lost. The same year, he went into business. It failed, leaving him with a debt that took him 17 years to repay. At 27, he had a nervous breakdown.

Two years later, he tried for the post of speaker in his state legislature. He lost. At 31, he was defeated in his attempt to become an elector. By 35, he had been defeated twice while running for Congress. Finally, he did manage to secure a brief term in Congress, but at 39 he lost his re-election bid.

At 41, his four-year-old son died. At 42, he was rejected as a prospective land officer. At 45, he ran for the Senate and lost. Two years later, he lost the vice presidential nomination. At 49, he ran for Senate and lost again.

At 51, he was elected the President of the United States of America.

The man in question: Abraham Lincoln.

~ Author Unknown



Many of us are familiar that it takes persistence to achieve victory. However, sometimes it's all too easy for us to think about leaders like Lincoln as "mythical creatures". We think of this kind of leaders as separate from the rest of humanity and empowered by some mysterious quality that smoothes their path towards inevitable success.

Many people think hat leaders are marked out for leadership from early on in their lives, and that if you're not a leader, there's little that you can do to become one.

However, that's not the way we see it now. The modern view is that through patience, persistence and hard work, you can acquire the qualities of an effective leader. And that then, just as long as you make the effort needed, you can lead successfully.

By the way, 'Are Leaders born or made?' is a hot topic of Jack Welch.

The series of these upcoming articles will help you find and develop these leadership qualities within yourself. It shows you how to look inside yourself and understand your own leadership strengths and weaknesses. It helps you build the passion, drive, will and vision that others find so inspiring, and it then teaches you the essential skills needed to turn this vision into reality.

Process:

• foundation of the modern view of leadership

• framework to realize your leadership potential.

• map out the structure


Leaders don't wait for an Invitation Letter

What are former U.S. President Lincoln's attributes?

What are the attributes that made him prevail against all odds to emerge as a great leader?

It amounts to sheer determination and a desire to lead, doesn't it?


This leads us to the most basic truth of leadership:

Leadership is a decision, not a position.


Action Steps:

Look around your workplace, your community. Have you seen situations where the person in charge, the boss, did not actually lead? And haven't you come across instances where a person without any defined authority has casually slipped into the leadership role?

Using the worksheet on the next page, list these instances. Note down the reasons you think that the boss did not function as an effective leader. And why was the person without any formal authority able to take over the role of leader?

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