Weekly Tools and Tips to Improve Any Relationship
By: Taylor Hartman, Ph.D.
There are countless books, seminars, and formal educational programs committed to inspiring effective leadership. Why then do so few leaders ever rise above themselves to become what all the great leadership research and teachings endeavor to promote? Why do the Enrons of the world continue to produce self-absorbed, immature, and insensitive leaders?
It could well be argued that the very psychological nature of man is selfish—an inner drive to care for oneself at the expense of another. Much like the constant struggle we endure physically against the elements of nature in order to survive, so too must we constantly battle our selfish desires.
Fortunately, our history is replete with solid examples of people who have won this psychological battle and offered powerful examples of selfless leadership. They are the victors of psychological and spiritual warfare equal, if not greater than, those noble souls among us who have successfully weathered the beatings of the physical elements.
No place in humanity is the selfless leader more noticeable than in the world of business. Known for its profit orientation and insensitivity, selfless leaders rise to remind us that business is far more than merely improving the bottom line. While it is about fiscal performance, it is clearly about so much more.
We live so much of our lives at work that is behooves us to consider the quality of our existence there. Are we becoming better people at work? Are we enhancing the lives of our associates and customers through our improved lives? Most importantly, do our leaders inspire us to get over ourselves and make our business lives about something and someone more than ourselves?
There are five critical characteristics that every successful leader must demonstrate. These critical gifts include:
Notice how each one requires the leader to “get over” himself or herself in order to successfully lead. Effective leaders leave legacies that endears them to their followers and enhance the lives of the children of their followers—children who will never know the leader, but whose quality of life will be seriously enhanced simply because their parents were led by such a rare individual—the selfless leader.
