Monday, July 18, 2011

What makes a leader different?

















On Saturday morning I attended the semi-annual Toastmasters Leadership Institute (TLI) for Divisions A and B of District 15. It was held at the First United Methodist Church in Nampa, which is south of downtown and east of Lake Lowell.

In Toastmasters the fiscal year starts on July 1st. The primary purpose for a TLI is to provide training for incoming club officers filling the roles of President, Vice President- Education, Vice President – Public Relations, Vice President – Membership, Secretary, Treasurer, and Sergeant at Arms.

There also was a general session, a group discussion on leadership led by Michael Rusnack. Michael was Governor for District 15 in 2007-2008. He began with a handout, which included the following sage advice:

“What are the actions and attributes of a leader? 

What is it that makes him/her different from others?

1) A leader is always full of praise.

2) A leader learns to use the phrases ‘thank you’ and ‘please’ on his way to the top.

3) A leader is always growing.

4) A leader is possessed with his dreams.

5) A leader launches forth before success is certain.

6) A leader is not afraid of confrontation.

7) A leader talks about his own mistakes before talking about someone else’s.

8) A leader is a person of honesty and integrity.

9) A leader has a good name.

10) A leader makes others better.

11) A leader is quick to praise and encourage the smallest amount of improvement.

12) A leader is genuinely interested in others.

13) A leader looks for opportunities to find someone doing something right.

14) A leader takes others up with him.

15) A leader responds to his own failures and acknowledges them before others have to discover and reveal them.

16) A leader never allows murmuring - from himself or others.

17) A leader is specific in what he expects.

18) A leader holds accountable those who work with him.

19) A leader does what is right rather than what is popular.

20) A leader is a servant.”

The image of geese is from David Hawgood via Wikimedia Commons.

1 comment:

  1. A leader should be honest, with integrity, ready to come up and implement new ideas, communicative and of course a good listener.
    At a Leadership development Toronto training held by http://www.robinsonleadership.com, I've also found out that without communication we can't lead a team correctly and we can't do anything properly.

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