The Four Qualities of Passionate Leadership
by Susan West
Webster’s defines leadership as the ability to influence.
I believe leadership encompasses more than influence alone. Leadership is knowing who you are, identifying what you have to contribute to the world, sharing what you know with others and inspiring others to action. All of these represent the kind of leader you are and contributes to your brand. I believe leadership; passionate leadership must have all four of these qualities demonstrated. What kind of leadership branding do you want for yourself?
Let’s take a look at each one.
1. Knowing who you are – this is key to how consistent your decisions and behaviors are. Knowing who you are involves knowing your values, knowing what your hot buttons are, knowing your strengths and weaknesses. A high level of self awareness brings acceptance and confidence in knowing how you act, knowing how you make and what you base your decisions. And leadership definitely involves making decisions.
2. Identifying what you have to contribute to the world – this is key to how your knowledge and experiences unfold. I believe gaining clarity on what your passion, what your main interests are is important to your personal and professional worth. Taking the steps and time to uncover your true purpose enhances your ability to contribute to others and ultimately love life.
3. Sharing what you know with others – this is key to who listens to you. I believe sharing your knowledge with others is courageous. Providing expertise to others, sharing without hesitation is a gift to the world. To me it means you hope and want others to build on it, enhance it, make it their own if they choose. I believe sharing your knowledge is courageous because it means you have to let go. You are exposed to the acceptance or rejection of your ideas by others, yet this is the very path to learning more yourself and gaining new information in return.
4. Inspiring others to action – this is key to what the results or outcomes are of your leadership intentions. If by fully exploiting the other three components of leadership: knowing who you are, identifying what you have to contribute to the world and sharing what you know with others, can you begin to inspire others.
A leader is someone who develops themselves in a way that contributes to the development of others. What kind of brand are you creating for yourself? A leader is one who look at the task at hand and knows that it is a step toward something bigger. Take a look at your present situation. What kind of leader do you want to be? Do you know who you are? Do you know what you have to contribute? Are you sharing what you know and are you inspiring others to action? Your own leadership, as defined by Webster’s, the ability to influence, will quickly unfold with these four qualities firmly understood and in place.
