Last week I shared some advice for young leaders in my article on “10 Simple Practices to Help You Experience Your Future Dreams.” As I was writing, I was recalling one of the earliest articles I wrote for my website about eight years ago. In the post, I described some of the symptoms of leaders who aren’t really leaders.
The leadership principles reflected in this list still apply. You want to know if you’re really a leader Consider these principles:
10 Easy Ways to Know You’re Not a Leader
- You’re waiting on a bigger staff and more money to accomplish your vision.
- You think you need to be in charge to have influence.
- You’re content.
- You tend to foster division instead of generating a helpful dialogue.
- You think you need to say something to be heard.
- You find it easier to blame others for your circumstances than to take responsibility for solutions.
- It’s been some time since you said, “I messed up.”
- You’re driven by the task instead of the relationships and the vision.
- Your dreams are so small, people think they can be achieved.
- No one is following you.
There are leaders, and then there are real leaders. Some leaders think of themselves as leaders because they have a title. Others don’t need a title. They understand that leadership is really about influence anchored in integrity and humility.
You don’t need to wait for someone to give you a position and a private office to lead. If you want to be a leader in the future, start acting like a leader today.
How will you invest your influence?
