The Fifth Essential Key to Leadership

Passion is one of the greatest motivators of all time. It can be such a primal instinct. Especially when your passion is pure. This single force is so powerful it can drive any human over the edge. It is capable of making you do things you would never even thought possible. It in of itself can create sheer determination. It can help you sustain your energy to accomplish the unfinished tasks that will get you closer to the heart of your intense desire.

It is the driver that inspires us from with in. It has been said that passion will lead to sustained, focused effort to achieve extra ordinary mastery in a skill. Knowing what excites you and then building your work or your career around it is a smart recipe for success. However, it will almost always require flexibility especially as it relates to leadership.

Think of that first love, the feelings, the intensity, the willingness to speak on the phone the whole night through. It was all fueled by passion. Passion can be looked at like a consistent adrenaline rush. Passion can create endurance. All leaders need endurance for the journey. If you are working towards a goal but there is no passion behind it you will find there will be many 'ADD' moments. Your attention will constantly be diverted. The task will be hard and monotonous. You are not able to have that single minded focus I so often speak about.

In building your leadership, I would recommend defining your passion first and then selecting a destination that has been created out of passion. It will begin to feel effortless when you plug you the key element into your leadership. You need to be in harmony with your core value system. You need to discover what it is about you, your gift, that will separate you from the rest. Then become wildly passionate with a vision of what it is you are going to create.

Passion is an emotion. Communication is the transfer of emotion. Only 7% of the words we speak are actually understood, the rest is your tonality and body language. Would you agree that passion will induce the entire body into your message..

People love to follow those who love life. The journey is so much more fulfilling when you have an entire cheering section behind you. Think of that marathon racer and all the people along the way that are helping him go the distance. Leadership is at its best when you have the total support of your following. Simply stated, make sure you pack your passion for the journey....

The Fourth Essential Key to Leadership

Persistence, mixed with will power and desire will conquer the most amazing feats. It is a recipe that almost never fails. Did you know lack of persistence is a major cause of failure? Leadership is near impossible without this one particular key ingredient.

Just think to when a child wants something, his/her only desire is to get their needs met at any cost. Why Mommy, why Mommy, can I have it please, pu le eeeeezzze? You know that it can go on for days on end. You become so worn down that it is actually easier to say yes then to continue this tiring process. As parents, we've all been guilty of saying yes when we mean no just to make it stop. Persistence pays! Even most 2 year old have mastered this art of obtaining exactly what they want with a constant wearing down of their giver.

Weakness in desire will lead to a lack of persistence. The best part about persistence is it can be cultivated. It has been proven it is simply a state of mind. All you need to develop is a burning desire. A fire in your belly. Add on some willpower and you will see how quick you can stir up some pretty strong persistence in developing your leadership skills.

The Third Essential Key to Leadership

This is where we speak about your vision. If you knew you couldn't fail, where and what would you want your legacy to be? A defined purpose is unstoppable. When you lack clarity, it is so easy to buy into the reasons why your thought, idea or purpose cannot come to fruition. When you are working towards your defined purpose, you will see how your mind will find solutions to what may have first appeared as an obstacle.

You need to create a map for your vision. What is your end target? Then begin to work the steps backwards to where you are right now. You must include a time line. It's the only way you can map your progress. Without tracking, where you are on an adventure; with tracking, you are on a mission.

Adventure or mission? You decided based on your willingness to take the time to strategically plan your steps. Anyone can eat an elephant piece by piece. At the beginning, you might think it could never be possible. Your vision can feel like that elephant, but when you chunk it down into bit size pieces all of a sudden you will see your next steps, easily. If you wander off track, you will also see that by working in smaller segments, it is so much simpler to catch. You can then take two steps back to get right back on track.

Without vision, people will perish. So what gets your blood pumping? It's your time to define your legacy. The world is waiting. When your look at some of the greater accomplishments in the world, you can easily be impressed. Take a few moments to learn what it took that person to get there. You will find it was their vision. A vision so bright, that it became a mission, one that was unstoppable. Here is to the unstoppable you...