Wednesday, March 14, 2012

THE MAJOR ATTRIBUTES OF LEADERSHIP by Napoleon Hill




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From: "Mark's Motivation Mail" <motivation@chattertonworld.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2012 05:19:45 +0800
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient>
Subject: THE MAJOR ATTRIBUTES OF LEADERSHIP by Napoleon Hill

The following are important factors of leadership:-

 

1. UNWAVERING COURAGE based upon knowledge of self, and of one's occupation. No

follower wishes to be dominated by a leader who lacks self-confidence and courage. No

intelligent follower will be dominated by such a leader very long.

 

2. SELF-CONTROL. The man who cannot control himself, can never control others. Selfcontrol

sets a mighty example for one's followers, which the more intelligent will emulate.

 

3. A KEEN SENSE OF JUSTICE. Without a sense of fairness and justice, no leader can

command and retain the respect of his followers.

 

4. DEFINITENESS OF DECISION. The man who wavers in his decisions, shows that he

is not sure of himself. He cannot lead others successfully.

 

5. DEFINITENESS OF PLANS. The successful leader must plan his work, and work his

plan. A leader who moves by guesswork, without practical, definite plans, is comparable to a

ship without a rudder. Sooner or later he will land on the rocks.

 

6. THE HABIT OF DOING MORE THAN PAID FOR. One of the penalties of leadership

is the necessity of willingness, upon the part of the leader, to do more than he requires

of his followers.

 

7. A PLEASING PERSONALITY. No slovenly, careless person can become a successful

leader. Leadership calls for respect. Followers will not respect a leader who does not grade

high on all of the factors of a Pleasing Personality.

 

8. SYMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING. The successful leader must be in sympathy

with his followers. Moreover, he must understand them and their problems.

 

9. MASTERY OF DETAIL. Successful leadership calls for mastery of details of the

leader's position.

 

10. WILLINGNESS TO ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY. The successful leader must

be willing to assume responsibility for the mistakes and the shortcomings of his followers. If

he tries to shift this responsibility, he will not remain the leader. If one of his followers

makes a mistake, and shows himself incompetent, the leader must consider that it is he who

failed.

 

11. COOPERATION. The successful leader must understand, and apply the principle of

cooperative effort and be able to induce his followers to do the same. Leadership calls for

POWER, and power calls for COOPERATION. There are two forms of Leadership. The

first, and by far the most effective, is LEADERSHIP BY CONSENT of, and with the

sympathy of the followers. The second is LEADERSHIP BY FORCE, without the consent

and sympathy of the followers.

 

History is filled with evidences that Leadership by Force cannot endure. The downfall and

disappearance of "Dictators" and kings is significant. It means that people will not follow

forced leadership indefinitely.

 

The world has just entered a new era of relationship between leaders and followers, which

very clearly calls for new leaders, and a new brand of leadership in business and industry.

Those who belong to the old school of leadership-by-force, must acquire an understanding of

the new brand of leadership (cooperation) or be relegated to the rank and file of the

followers. There is no other way out for them.

 

The relationship of employer and employee, or of leader and follower, in the future, will be

one of mutual cooperation, based upon an equitable division of the profits of business. In the

future, the relationship of employer and employee will be more like a partnership than it has

been in the past.

 

Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, the Czar of Russia, and the King of Spain were

examples of leadership by force. Their leadership passed. Without much difficulty, one might

point to the prototypes of these ex-leaders, among the business, financial, and labor leaders

of America who have been dethroned or slated to go. Leadership-by-consent of the followers

is the only brand which can endure!

 

Men may follow the forced leadership temporarily, but they will not do so willingly.

The new brand of LEADERSHIP will embrace the eleven factors of leadership, described in

this chapter, as well as some other factors. The man who makes these the basis of his

leadership, will find abundant opportunity to lead in any walk of life. The depression was

prolonged, largely, because the world lacked LEADERSHIP of the new brand. At the end of

the depression, the demand for leaders who are competent to apply the new methods of

leadership has greatly exceeded the supply. Some of the old type of leaders will reform and

adapt themselves to the new brand of leadership, but generally speaking, the world will have

to look for new timber for its leadership. This necessity may be your OPPORTUNITY!

 

THE 10 MAJOR CAUSES OF FAILURE IN LEADERSHIP

 

We come now to the major faults of leaders who fail, because it is just as essential to know

 

WHAT NOT TO DO as it is to know what to do.

 

1. INABILITY TO ORGANIZE DETAILS. Efficient leadership calls for ability to organize

and to master details. No genuine leader is ever "too busy" to do anything which may be

required of him in his capacity as leader. When a man, whether he is a leader or follower,

admits that he is "too busy" to change his plans, or to give attention to any emergency, he

admits his inefficiency. The successful leader must be the master of all details connected

with his position. That means, of course, that he must acquire the habit of relegating details

to capable lieutenants.

 

2. UNWILLINGNESS TO RENDER HUMBLE SERVICE. Truly great leaders are willing,

when occasion demands, to perform any sort of labor which they would ask another to

perform. "The greatest among ye shall be the servant of all" is a truth which all able leaders

observe and respect.

 

3. EXPECTATION OF PAY FOR WHAT THEY "KNOW" INSTEAD OF WHAT THEY

DO WITH THAT WHICH THEY KNOW. The world does not pay men for that which they

"know." It pays them for what they DO, or induce others to do.

 

4. FEAR OF COMPETITION FROM FOLLOWERS. The leader who fears that one of his

followers may take his position is practically sure to realize that fear sooner or later. The able

leader trains understudies to whom he may delegate, at will, any of the details of his position.

Only in this way may a leader multiply himself and prepare himself to be at many places, and

give attention to many things at one time. It is an eternal truth that men receive more pay for

their ABILITY TO GET OTHERS TO PERFORM, than they could possibly earn by their

own efforts. An efficient leader may, through his knowledge of his job and the magnetism of

his personality, greatly increase the efficiency of others, and induce them to render more

service and better service than they could render without his aid.

 

5. LACK OF IMAGINATION. Without imagination, the leader is incapable of meeting

emergencies, and of creating plans by which to guide his followers efficiently.

 

 

6. SELFISHNESS. The leader who claims all the honor for the work of his followers, is

sure to be met by resentment. The really great leader CLAIMS NONE OF THE HONORS.

He is contented to see the honors, when there are any, go to his followers, because he knows

that most men will work harder for commendation and recognition than they will for money

alone.

 

7. INTEMPERANCE. Followers do not respect an intemperate leader. Moreover,

intemperance in any of its various forms, destroys the endurance and the vitality of all who

indulge in it.

 

8. DISLOYALTY. Perhaps this should have come at the head of the list. The leader who is

not loyal to his trust, and to his associates, those above him, and those below him, cannot

long maintain his leadership. Disloyalty marks one as being less than the dust of the earth,

and brings down on one's head the contempt he deserves. Lack of loyalty is one of the major

causes of failure in every walk of life.

 

9. EMPHASIS OF THE "AUTHORITY" OF LEADERSHIP. The efficient leader leads by

encouraging, and not by trying to instill fear in the hearts of his followers. The leader who

tries to impress his followers with his "authority" comes within the category of leadership

through FORCE. If a leader is a REAL LEADER, he will have no need to advertise that fact

except by his conduct-his sympathy, understanding, fairness, and a demonstration that he

knows his job.

 

10. EMPHASIS OF TITLE. The competent leader requires no "title" to give him the

respect of his followers. The man who makes too much over his title generally has little else

to emphasize. The doors to the office of the real leader are open to all who wish to enter, and

his working quarters are free from formality or ostentation.

 

These are among the more common of the causes of failure in leadership. Any one of these

faults is sufficient to induce failure. Study the list carefully if you aspire to leadership, and

make sure that you are free of these faults.

 

SOME FERTILE FIELDS IN WHICH "NEW LEADERSHIP" WILL BE REQUIRED

Before leaving this chapter, your attention is called to a few of the fertile fields in which

there has been a decline of leadership, and in which the new type of leader may find an

abundance of OPPORTUNITY.

 

First. In the field of politics there is a most insistent demand for new leaders; a demand

which indicates nothing less than an emergency. The majority of politicians have, seemingly,

become high-grade, legalized racketeers. They have increased taxes and debauched the

machinery of industry and business until the people can no longer stand the burden.

 

Second. The banking business is undergoing a reform. The leaders in this field have almost

entirely lost the confidence of the public. Already the bankers have sensed the need of

reform, and they have begun it.

 

Third. Industry calls for new leaders. The old type of leaders thought and moved in terms of

dividends instead of thinking and moving in terms of human equations! The future leader in

industry, to endure, must regard himself as a quasi-public official whose duty it is to manage

his trust in such a way that it will work hardship on no individual, or group of individuals.

Exploitation of working men is a thing of the past. Let the man who aspires to leadership in

the field of business, industry, and labor remember this.

 

Fourth. The religious leader of the future will be forced to give more attention to the

temporal needs of his followers, in the solution of their economic and personal problems of

the present, and less attention to the dead past, and the yet unborn future.

 

Fifth. In the professions of law, medicine, and education, a new brand of leadership, and to

some extent, new leaders will become a necessity. This is especially true in the field of

education. The leader in that field must, in the future, find ways and means of teaching

people HOW TO APPLY the knowledge they receive in school. He must deal more with

PRACTICE and less with THEORY.

 

Sixth. New leaders will be required in the field of Journalism. Newspapers of the future, to

be conducted successfully, must be divorced from "special privilege" and relieved from the

subsidy of advertising. They must cease to be organs of propaganda for the interests which

patronize their advertising columns. The type of newspaper which publishes scandal and

lewd pictures will eventually go the way of all forces which debauch the human mind.

These are but a few of the fields in which opportunities for new leaders and a new brand of

leadership are now available. The world is undergoing a rapid change. This means that the

media through which the changes in human habits are promoted, must be adapted to the

changes. The media

1 comment:

Cris said...

Thanks for sharing these wonderful tips. Here is also an audio version on Youtube if someone prefers to listen then from time to time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKKWNIee3rY
Good luck!

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