Leadership That Develops Greatness

By: Nat Crawford
 
We all lead in some area of life. Most of us will not run a Fortune 500 company, and we all influence people wherever we are. This is important to remember, because we do not want to be bad leaders, and we do not want to settle being good leaders. We want to be great. Great leaders consistently have three skills.

The first skill is the ability to identify strengths in others and nurture growth in those areas. Far too often we try to "fix" the weaknesses of ourselves and others. A great leader identifies those strengths and develops them. This is why the team concept is so crucial. No one person can or should do it all. Great leaders position for success.



Second is instruction. A great leader will be a teacher. Though being a teacher means living according to that which is taught. By teaching others, leaders learn as well. They inspire others to teach. A great example is medical residency. They have a model: See it. Do it. Teach it. First they watch the procedure. Then they do the procedure. Then they teach. 



Last is the ability to see failure as results to learn from. The Mayo Medical Ventures gives the "Queasy Eagle" award for the biggest flop in an investment. Granted, you don't want to win that award too many times, but the concept is great. Listen to the words of Thomas Edison "If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward." That is the attitude of a great leader.



These are qualities we can all develop and apply today. Look for these opportunities on your road to great leadership.

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