Each year there are 50,000 books published about leadership and more than 250,000 students enrolled in MBA programs. Why?. I think that everybody wants to be important, to be recognised and find a sense in his life, and they think that these books or courses will give them what they are looking for.
Honestly I am not a expert about leadership and I am not a leader, but for these two reasons, I think that I am more objective to give an opinion, because I can see the subject from far, far away. So I will tell four comments about leadership:
1. The leadership is not the most important thing in life. The person with the most leadership skills that I met so far progressed very quickly professionally until he got a depression, because he could not bear his work and travel all days 80 kms to go to work leaving alone his family for all this time.
2. When you start to work, you must be the best individually: the employee doing more tasks in less time, the employee working more hours, selling more..but there is a moment that this is not differential, it is more important to deal well with people, make that the others feeling happier become better. Why?. You multiplicate your effect. If you influence only one people, you duplicate the results globally.
3. When your life goes very well, yo do not learn anything because you are enjoying your success..but there will be a great failure ("the crucible") that will change your life , because it will take away all your ego, it make you become more humble and it will show you that you are stronger than you thought. You will lose your fears and you will be very conscious about your strong skills and your weak skills and then you will start to use your strong skills or make efforts to improve your weak skills .
4. The problems are coming from outside and the solutions come always from inside. People does not know you as much as you are able to know you. The leadership has to match with your personality, do not try to be other person, because it will not work because others will not believe you, because you will sound fake and forced.
There is a tale from a book called "The turn of the tide" from Arthur Gordon, where he explains that he went to the doctor because he though that his life had not sense. The doctor did not see any physical problem and he requested him to go to the place where he was happier when he was a child. He should not read, write, listen the radio or speak with anybody and he should open four envelopes each three hours.
The first envelope at 9 hours was "Listen carefully". He started to listen all sounds from the sea, the birds.. he started to listen other slighter sounds... and then he reminded what he learnt from the sea when he was a child. A great peace started inside him helping him to think.
The second envelope at 12 hours was "Try to come back to the past". . Coming back?.. Where?.. To his childhood?.. Then he reminded all its good times when he was a child, and he reminded its wishes, its hobbies and its values when he was a child. And he reminded him as well being very happy.
The third envelope at 15 hours was "Analyse your purpose and wishes". He wanted to be succesful, rich, recognised..but analysing deeply these wishes, he saw that they were not giving real satisfaction to him..and then he started to find purposes that were matching more with its internal wishes. For example, he realised that he was happier when he was helping others than when he was only thinking in himself.
The fourth enveloppe at 18 hours was "write what worries you". He wrote something in the sand and then he left the beach. The tide was coming. He had found his real inside purpose listening only to himself.
