To be successful, all leaders – whatever their leadership style, type and so on – must choose the right action at the right time and “keep a steady eye on the ball”. They must be courageous, self-aware – and ensure the consistent support of their team of followers. This is a skill which needs to be practised says Jamal.
Jamal Taleb says everyone you meet has different values, opinions, attitudes, beliefs, cultural values, work habits, goals, ambitions, and dreams. Because of this incredible diversity of human resources, it has never been more difficult and yet more necessary for diplomatic leaders to emerge and form these people into high-performing teams. Leadership is a skill that anyone, in the right environment and under the right circumstances, can learn and perfect.
While many of us believe that a lucky few are born with innate leadership abilities and the necessary “talents” like confidence, creativity, and effective communication–an emerging body of research suggests otherwise. All these traits can be grown and developed through schooling and general life experience.
One of the marks of excellent people is that they never compare themselves with others. They only compare themselves with themselves and with their past accomplishments and future potential. You can become an even more excellent person by constantly setting higher and higher standards for yourself and then by doing everything possible to live up to those standards.
Fortunately, leaders are made, not born. You learn to become a leader by doing what other excellent leaders have done before you. You become proficient in your job or skill, and then you become proficient at understanding the motivations and behaviours of other people. As a leader, you combine your personal competencies with the competencies of a variety of others into a smoothly functioning team that can out-play and out-perform all its competitors. When you become a team leader, even if your team only consists of one other person, you must immediately develop a whole new set of leadership skills. “True leaders ensure they continue to develop their leadership skills throughout their careers, through learning and development materials and activities.”
Talented leaders are indeed born inside the people who have quality with it. The correct words of it is: great leaders are shaped. It is just like a diamond, it is not made, but shaped, from raw stone to the shiny one. Only people who has the quality of a leader, can be taught leadership, and shaped into a good leader. From what I observe, leadership is related to one’s personality. If you don’t have the quality and personality of the leader, no matter how much training of leadership the person get, he won’t become a leader, because you cannot change their personality.
In my view, this is the best definition of leadership:
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams
If you are born a “leader” you may not actually have the skill set to be a leader. There is a difference between the title of “leader” and the heart and mind of a real leader. A real leader might not even have a title that people would assume involves leadership. You can be a leader in your home, in your school, in your town or city, n your country, in your team or in your office. You will know a true leader not by how well they perform but by how they transform. Whenever you have problems, misunderstandings, or difficulties within the team, you reexamine your values, your goals, your activities, your assignments, and your responsibilities.
You are more concerned with what’s right than with who’s right. Leaders are more concerned with winning than with not losing. High-Performing teams run by excellent leaders are determined to perform in an excellent fashion. All members know that their ability to work together in harmony and cooperation is the key to the success of every one of them.