Developing a Leadership Mindset
Leadership Comes in All Forms and Spans a Lifetime
Everyone is capable of unleashing their leadership potential anytime, anyplace, and anywhere. Leaders can be nurtured, trained, and developed at any stage in their lives, whether leading a team at work, school, sports, or finding new ways to contribute to their communities. Continuous exploration of your self-awareness, leadership capabilities, and influencing skills to lead others are critical elements to leadership readiness.
A leadership philosophy is a set of behaviors that are viewed by “what leaders do” (task behavior) and “how leaders act towards followers in various situations (process behavior). Effective leaders do what they say they will do and communicate how they will go about getting the necessary work accomplished. It requires building strong relationships and maintaining them. It’s also about the process of influencing others. It takes time, passion, and visionary tenacity to lead.
Early studies indicate that leadership is a set of inherited traits having distinguishing qualities. Attributes may include intelligence, confidence, charisma, determination, sociability, and integrity (based on research). Leadership is a culmination of conscientiousness, adaptability, and an innate sense of right and wrong.
Sometimes we are uninterested in giving ourselves credit for leadership activity exhibited in earlier years of our life. If we think leadership occurs only upon or after a certain age, job title, or financial wealth, we may wrongly dismiss learning about leadership when we are in our twenties or thirties. If this is your mindset, then this is why you need to examine leadership.
Step 1: Define Your Leadership
Begin by writing your definition of leadership. In today’s inter-connected world, we are bombarded by what leadership is and what leadership isn’t. Finding a definition of leadership is a meaningul step. It can’t be someone else’s description of leadership. I suggest making a list with four columns–(1) what you think leadership is and (2) what you believe leadership is not. Then, reflect on the ingredients needed for your leadership recipe. Think about your passion (3) and purpose (4). Oh, wait, I’m not clear on either one. No worries. Think of passion as the fuel that produces the heat necessary to bring all of your ingredients together. It’s magic! Passion is what we experience–it’s that feeling of reaching for a higher purpose and realizing our purpose.
Prospective leaders of all ages span from being highly motivated to completely reluctant. Often, people perpetuate a myth that leaders must be born, that leaders must attain political power, or that leaders must sound and look good on television. The reality is that leaders become leaders by being open to change, listening attentively to the concerns of others, and setting a continuous path of self-discovery, particularly in the global context.
Step 2: Be Open to and Appreciate Learning & Teaching
Teaching in global leadership programs in Australia and Vietnam, I had the opportunity to engage with diverse mindsets and learning styles from around the world. My fondest memories of my time abroad were in gaining students’ trust and articulating their views of leaders and leadership. I love to work with students who are initially quiet during class participation and often unfamiliar with an American professor’s style of teaching. I enjoy creating classrooms that offer an open environment to express opinions, share ideas, and genuinely feel comfortable interacting with others. My excitement comes when I see a formerly quiet student speaking up passionately, motivating others to also speak on leadership topics. I see leadership as a journey of self-discovery and self-awareness. As you transition to the next stage of your life, you may find yourself in a teaching role or a learning mode or a combination of both. Either way, you should dedicate yourself to being the best and giving the most.
Step 3: Give Yourself Permission to Lead
Dispelling myths about leaders is no easy task. Coming from hierarchical or traditional cultures often embeds hesitation to study or practice leadership. For example, some come from environments where women are unsupported as leaders. Others feel as though leadership is only for the politically powerful. But, emerging leaders who permit themselves to lead more easily come to realize that being a leader and practicing leadership is within reach of anyone, anytime and anyplace.
Intrinsic to leadership is the desire to be a change agent, do the right thing, and make a difference. While these statements may seem superficial or vague, the reality is that leaders develop by opening their minds to new possibilities.
Leadership doesn’t have an expiration date. While you may not have been ready for leadership in the past, leadership opportunities are bountiful and without borders. It’s all up to you.
Step4: Emerge With the Challenge
Sometimes we fear leading others. Yet, surprisingly and without hesitation, we often emerge in times of crisis, respond to an emergency need, organize an awareness event, redirect others when they are losing their way, or lend a helping hand in the community following a natural disaster. How does this happen? Does an otherwise reluctant leader suddenly discover the leader within himself or herself? Learning to be a leader is achievable, and experience is an excellent teacher.
Prospective leaders emerge at different times. Leadership can appear in any stage of life. Wherever the opportunity arises and whenever the leader believes he or she is ready for leading, then the authenticity of leadership emerges.
Step 5: Embrace a Spectrum of Success to Failure
Learning how to embrace success is relatively easy. It’s the other side of the coin that sometimes gives us pause—the notion of failure. Like leadership, failure is sometimes readily apparent and sometimes remarkably hidden within us. Leadership literature is replete with inspiring concepts, ideas, and purposes. Leadership helps us move forward, providing a pathway of doing the right thing, and allowing us to act on our vision by engaging others.
Failure is a topic most people are reluctant to discuss privately or publicly. Have we not blamed ourselves for losing an important game, received a poor grade, or failed to communicate when things went wrong? Failure can either be a surprising path to success or sadly, lead to diminished confidence and paralyzing inertia. Are we defined and made stronger by our failures or successes? Does examining the dynamics of the leadership domain help? How is failure defined and explored in a cultural context? We must not allow past failures to predict future failures. Whether in your city here or on the other side of the world, one’s leadership has the potential to direct dynamic change, capture hearts, and fulfill aspirations. Are you the one? How will you know? Will you be ready to lead?
The world has millions of leadership opportunities. Don’t let the ever-increasing need for leadership overwhelm you. Find the one chance that mirrors your passion and lead the way for others to follow you.
About Dr. Rick Arrowood
Dr. Rick Arrowood has taught in undergraduate and graduate education for three decades, held high-level leadership positions in nonprofit organizations and published numerous articles and research studies. He has given keynote speeches and presented on various subjects of nonprofit management and leadership in the USA, Australia, China, Russia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Malaysia, and the Netherlands (The Hague). His academic areas include nonprofit management, law, global leadership, human resource management, and financial management. He holds several professional certifications in cultural competency, intercultural effectiveness, and leadership practices. He attained a Juris Doctor from Massachusetts School of Law, North Andover, Massachusetts, and a Doctor of Law and Policy from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.
Previously, former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick credited him as a change agent in leading a grassroots effort to attain a legislative mandate providing the first-ever pioneering state-wide registry later replicated nationwide for individuals living with Lou Gehrig’s disease overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Environmental Division.
