HOW TO RAISE LEADERS

PARENTING LEADERS

Parenting leaders is a full time job. Schools give your kids a certificate. A certificate may get them a job, but talent will get them enterprise. Schools can teach them right and wrong, but only you can teach them how to use the right and left part of the brain. School can teach them many things. But only you can teach them values and leadership by example.

To raise leaders is to mentor them, walk with them and talk with them. Leadership is a function of parenting. What you see in public is what parenting is doing in private. The public is a mirror of the inside of homes run by (absent) parents.

If you are interested in what you can do, the above paragraphs give you a clue. First, you need a good plan of action. This is not hard to do because the curriculum depends on you. You cannot teach what you don't do. All you have to do is to be; so that your kids can model after you. Parenting is more what you do than what you do for your kids. It is easy for a thief to raise a thief, because he is a thief. If you want to raise leaders, be a leader. Improve yourself then, be yourself. And that is all you have to do.

Allan

WHEN WAS YOUR EUREKA MOMENT

WHEN WAS YOUR EUREKA MOMENT

Words are amazing tools able to capture feelings, events, and moments of inspiration. Eureka is a word made famous by Archimedes. He found out how things float while taking a bath. It is obvious to us today. But back then, it was quite hard to explain why some things float on water and why others do not. It was nothing short of a miracle. Understanding this miracle changed Archimedes life. Today that miracle touches the lives of millions of people around the world as they travel on land, air and sea.

Halleluiah is another such word that captures the miracle of a changed life. It is hard to understand how God changes lives. But that has not stopped millions of people around the world experiencing the miracle of renewed life. Eureka and halleluiah are as much alive today as they came to be many years ago. Your eureka moment will change your life. And change the lives of millions of people around the world who hear about the change in you.

Allan

A LEADERS WISH

A LEADERS WISH

If I had a wish I could present, I would ask God for more leaders. I would pray that God makes me a leader. I would ask that all leaders come out and make this world a better place. I pray that we would all learn to lead and exercise leadership here, there and everywhere.

I wish that you would lead and that you would succeed. I wish that leaders would not compete and serve if they win, but that we would compete to serve and win. I wish that leaders would emerge, merge, and with a great surge improve the nation. I wish that all men and women would lead in person, private and public. I wish that I would never have to wish for leaders. I wish that leaders would not need to be caught as fish in the sea, but volunteer what they have been taught when they see the need of people on land. If this wish would be, my wish would be.

Allan

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP

Leadership is what happens before anything does and what happens after anything does. It is teaching, speaking, reading, writing and taking action. It is looking ahead and around for something to be done. It makes things happen. A person can do it. People need it.  Things suffer without it. It raises hopes and makes kings. It makes dreams come true and raises stakes. It makes things work and makes things work better.  It makes sense, synergy, strategy and success. Without it poverty reigns, the rich have it. In a group, you can feel it. Managers use it, the wicked abuse it, and those who fail lose it. It is not magic; it is moral and has method. It is thought to life. When personal, it is character. In business, it is skill. In public, it is culture. In private, it is no less than integrity. It takes skill, but needs the will. It is confident, but needs courage. Leadership is the value you bring.

Allan

WHY DO PEOPLE CHANGE WHEN THEY BECOME LEADERS

WHY DO PEOPLE CHANGE WHEN THEY BECOME LEADERS?

Why do people change when they become leaders? Many people do not understand why people "change" when they become manager. The change is most keenly felt when an officer is first made a supervisor. All of a sudden, his or her views of life change. The supervisor no longer fits in with the crowd. Colleagues may feel that he or she has become haughty and no longer worthy of their trust.

However, this change has nothing to do with friendship or attitude. It is brought about by a change in view and duty station. As you rise in leadership, you see things from a new, higher and wider mandate. This changes your understanding of, and approach to everything you do.  It is like looking at a battlefield from the bottom, side or top of a mountain.

At the bottom of the mountain, all the people are engaged in the battle or business. They go about their roles with no more view than the customer they serve. They see things from a point of contact, task and service. Supervisors are moved out of the field to the side of the mountain. On higher ground, the supervisor is able to see where the battle is hot or the business needs greater attention. Of course, the major and the manager are higher up the hill. The army general and general manager are only able to direct the battle or business because they are near the top. Perhaps you now understand why, in the story of Moses, God always called him to the top of the mountain. Each time he came down, he had fresh insight and new laws for the people. When he came down, he changed, because he saw things from Gods point of view.

There are leaders who take their new post as a sign that they are better than others. But by and large, a change in perspective is needed in order to succeed as a leader. Leaders are able to treat staff with empathy when they realize that they do not share the same privileged point of view. Leadership will change you. It may not change your behaviour, but it will change your point of view. No one can escape this change.

Allan

 

TEACH LEADERHIP IN SCHOOLS

 

TEACH LEADERSHIP IN SCHOOLS

For most people leadership is caught after school. But experience in the field tells you that it should have been taught in school. The reason it is not taught in school is that it is thought to be hard to define apart from a post. In school, you could only be a leader if you were appointed a class prefect or games captain. Everyone else in school is not expected to lead, be a leader or even understand leadership.

Less than 1% of students leaving school come out with any knowledge or experience of leadership at all. But as soon as they step into the workplace they are expected to exercise leadership. That is when it strikes you that it is something you were never taught. Your employer expects you to take charge, manage a task, lead a team and organize an office. He or she expects you to know these things. Your biggest surprise comes when you realize that you will be doing these things for the rest of your life. Apart from character, the details of what you were taught in school are quickly forgotten.

So how do we teach leadership in school? Read the previous paragraph and you will get a clear idea of what you should do. Teach students about leaders, what leaders do and how they do it. Teach them to set goals and give them roles to play. Give them class projects and ask them to work in groups. Give them targets. Ask them to be creative and not just recall what you say. Ask them to stand in front of the line and see how it feels. Ask them to stand in front of the class and teach you something. Make sure 20% of the time in school teaches them to lead whether they ever make class prefect or not.  Tell them to lead the school team in the national anthem whether they ever make the team or not. Home and school is the best place to teach leadership.

Allan

WHAT DOES LABOUR MEAN TO YOU

LABOUR

Labour means different things to many people. To most men and women it means pain or gain. Some think of it as torture while to others it is the path to success. Employees think of work input, while employers think of work output. Famers think of it as sweat. Factory workers think of the union, while managers think in terms of manpower. The Government thinks of tax, while the people think of income.  To understand labour we need to think of its purpose.

The keys to wealth are labour and creativity. To create wealth you need labour. The two go together, but you can tell them apart. You can increase wealth by either or both. To increase labour means to do more of the same. To increase creativity means to do less of the same.

Labour uses land to create wealth. You can use your hands to get a good yield. But there is a limit to how much you will get in the field. But you can apply your head to multiply that yield. And if you will do well, then you must do it with all your heart. A job is where most people start. Labour is much more than work; it is a matter of your hands, head and heart.

Many people toil on jobs for a long time and fail to create wealth for the family. They produce no more than their hands allow. The labour that produces wealth is the labour of hands, head and heart.

Allan