Leadership is a trait that every individual should have. Some, will take their leadership to a communal level and be our next generation’s leaders; others will be individuals who lead by example, making our world a better place one good deed at a time.
How do we develop leadership in ourselves and others? It only takes three ingredients.
1. Hope
Leadership takes vision and vision can only exist in an environment of hope. If we believe that all is lost, if we believe that others control our destiny, if we believe that our voices do not matter, we can not lead. Encouraging leadership requires us to value our existing laws and institutions- to work within them. Simultaneously, encouraging leadership requires us to have ideals and values that are greater than the society in which we live, values that are timeless and outside our communal laws and institutions. When we have hope in something greater, each of us will rise to our greatest selves and improve the world in which we live.
2. Responsibility
Leadership requires we understand that we are here for a purpose and that we are responsible for the world in which we live. This sense of responsibility can be cultivated from a young age- the more we trust our children to do, the more they realize that they can accomplish and that they are needed in this world. This same technique is one we need to nurture in adults within our organizational structures; we need to provide opportunities for individuals to take on responsibility as responsibility creates ownership.
3. Ownership
Leadership ultimately can not thrive without a sense of ownership. We can be hopeful, we can be responsible, but if we do not own the world in which we live, if we do not see it as a part of ourselves, then we will care less, do less and ultimately turn our attention inwards to ourselves. So let’s pass that baton every chance we get. Let’s not fear or be intimated by what is to come or think we will become irrelevant by passing ownership- it will just free us up to move on to the next leadership potential.
Every barometer of health, happiness and fulfillment ultimately lie in our interconnection with each other. Leadership within ourselves and those around us serves to tie us together as one living entity. Leadership- develop it in yourself and foster it in others, as it is ultimately the path to a world of beauty of which only the most brave of us can dream.
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