What are the Core Principles that Define Exceptional Leaders?
" What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others"
- Nelson Mandela
" The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on"
- Walter Lippmann
Self-esteem is always reflected in our capacity to love others.
Dominant and overwhelming leadership simply reflects a low self-esteem and confidence. We only have to look at the international political scene, to see perfect examples of this and witness the results that these types of leaders generate all around the world. The impact of these leadership styles is felt all over the globe and in our environment. Their behaviors, as well as the current suffering of their people, speak much louder than their most beautiful speeches.
The need to feel that we dominate others is simply a result of the fear of being dominated. The lack of trust in others simply reflects a lack of self-confidence. Everything we inflict on others, we inflict on ourselves. All these behaviors come from our ego, and when our leadership is inspired by it, it is impossible to exercise powerful leadership in the long term, because the negative and destructive results will not be long coming.
Love is the greatest force, because it comes directly from our heart. Moreover, Love
IS our source of life and our true nature. It brings together, mobilizes, inspires, and literally creates miracles. The results generated by leadership inspired by love and the heart are much more significant, powerful and transformative, even propelling a people, a team or a family above and beyond what anyone believed possible.
Love is comparable to the hub of a wheel; at the center of the wheel, everything becomes one. The more we move away from the hub of the wheel, outward, the larger the spaces between the spokes become, creating the illusion that they are separate from one another. However, it is the center of the wheel that keeps everything in place and allows the wheel to be solid and whole. This is also the role of our heart; it is our center, our hub.
Too often we believe that our worth will be assessed by our appearance, our performance, our accomplishments, or our assets. We establish our life goals by considering our wallet. We believe we are successful because we bought the nicest car, the biggest house, or because we obtained university degrees, all needs steming from our ego.
The great value of a leader can be summed up in three points: His faith, his family, and his great contribution to those around him, the mark he will have left behind. An imprint that will never fade over time, especially the way he deeply touched people, not only his family members, but everyone around him and his community.
The Imprint of a Good Leader
As a leader, whether of a people, a team, or your family, what would you like the testimony to be about you when you leave this life? What would you like to hear? What imprint would you like to leave behind ? Would it be deep, so that the years will never be able to erase it from the memory of the people you have met?
What will remain in everyone's memory will be a direct reflection of the kind of leadership you have expressed during your existence, that is, of the heart or of the ego? Will their memories be of a Leader who made a difference , or that of a Leader who made everyone around him miserable? Your legacy is being built now, in the present moment.
" There is no difficulty that love cannot conquer, no disease that love will not heal, no door that enough love will not open...It makes no difference how deep set the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all. If only you could love enough, you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world..." - Emmet J. Fox
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