LEADERSHIP CONCEPT: LEADERSHIP 101 | BY YINKA EKUNDAYO

TEXTS: Mathew 5:13-14

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted?

Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.”

More than any other time, teenagers need to learn about leadership and how they can develop the leader in them so as to become responsible citizens and worthy ambassadors of Christ in this world and anywhere they find themselves!

LEADERSHIP DEFINED!

1.    Leadership is influence.

Leadership is the ability to influence a group of people to achieve a set of worthwhile goals. Influence is the capacity to make people do what you want them to do not by coercion but because they are willing to do it. When you have an influence with a group of people, it is easier to lead them.

People are always willing to follow when they see a leader of influence!

People are willing to leave the city and enter the forest with a leader of influence.

Please note, leadership is NOT by age, anyone whether old or young can display it.

Neither is it by color or race, it’s an outflow of our personality not nationality!

2.    Leadership is the capacity to bring out the best in people.

People appreciate leaders who can bring out the best in them. When you know how to unleash the potentials of people around you, they will naturally gravitate towards you and follow you all the way.

A very good example of this in Bible times is David. The Bible records in 1 Samuel 22:2, that certain distressed and stranded men came to David and he became their captain. By the time you get to 2 Samuel 23:8-39, these 400 once stranded men had become David’s mighty men and valiant warriors!

It takes leadership to ensure such a transformation in people’s lives!

It takes leadership to bring out gold from the mud of people’s lives.

3.     Leadership is knowing the way, going the way and showing the way!

According to Dr. John C. Maxwell, A leader is someone who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way!

This definition brings out 3 core traits of a leader; they are:

a.     COMPETENCY- a leader knows certain things that others don’t know therefore he can handle certain issues. 

b.     EXEMPLARY LIVING-not only does he know but he is disciplined to live by the rules, he is not above the law.

c.      CONTRIBUTION-a leader shows others how to do it, he reproduces himself in others.

Having defined leadership, it is important we look at certain boosters of leadership. These are certain factors that enhance the quality of leadership we display per time…the stronger we are on those factors, the more influential our leadership becomes!

READ ALSO: Leadership Blind Spots

BOOSTERS OF LEADERSHIP

1.     SELF DISCIPLINE

True leadership begins with self- leadership!

If you cannot lead yourself how can you possibly lead others? The victory you have not had, how can you possibly show others how to have it?

The places you have not been, how can you possibly take others there?

The truth is this: it is your discipline that sets the limits on your leadership!

What then is self-discipline?

According to Brian Tracy:  "Self -discipline is the ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not."

The capacity to push yourself beyond your previous achievement in order to surpass your own records is what is called discipline. It is hard at the beginning but gorgeous at the end when it has become a lifestyle.

A wise man once noted that: ‘If you keep doing what is easy your life will be hard, but if you dare hard things your life will be easy!’

So how much of self-discipline have you imbibed in your life as a person?

How disciplined are you in the area of friendships, eating, sleeping, waking up early, saying no to distractions etc.?

2.     VISION

True leadership centers around a crystal clear vision. A leader sees before others see so vision is very key to leadership!

Where no vision is in view, leadership is lacking. The clearer the vision the stronger the leadership that will be exerted!

Vision is the capacity to see tomorrow before it arrives; it is seeing the future of things, system or a people before it is unfolded! Leaders see differently from others, while others are seeing mud, he sees gold buried within the mud.

So what can u see coming? Leadership is rooted in your vision.

3.     WILLINGNESS TO ALWAYS GO THE EXTRA MILE.

Leadership is found on the extra mile.

Those who go the extra mile end up on the front line in life. Extra milers are front liners!

Leadership is shown when a student who has just come back from school after a busy day decides to go all the way in personal study for another hour or two. Or better still, sitting up to read at night when his classmates are snoring away in sleep.

Extra mile is where leaders are made! In his great book-Greatness Guide Robin Sharma observed: ‘Those who lead extraordinary lives are those who spend most of their time giving their best on the extra mile.’

It’s time to make up your mind to go the extra mile this season and end up on the front line in life and destiny.

To be continued…

           

THIS IS A GUEST POST COMPILED BY YINKA EKUNDAYO (aka Eagle). 

AUTHOR BIO: He is a Pastor, a Motivational Speaker, Leadership and career Coach, He holds a monthly Knowledge Impactation Programme for the Youth an the Conquerors Assembly, Akowonjo. Lagos. Connect with him on Facebook

                                                                                 

         *(Also Read Becoming A World Changer by Yinka Ekundayo,                       Click HERE)