Leading from
Within Kevin Abdulrahman reflects on common leadership myths and says that the real leader lies within each one of us.
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want to touch on a word that society as a whole has very much been over using and under utilising - And that word is Leadership. You hear about leadership spoken by so many people. Many will even be able to tell you all the theories, formulas, habits, and the like, having read every book there is under the sun in that genre. Some will go even further, gleaming with pride for having rows of books on leadership in their home library. Today I don’t want to bore you with leadership mumbo jumbo. When leadership is discussed, the misconception is sometimes that “it’s may be some people’s job, and not others”. May be it has to do with you being in a place of authority or power. What I’m referring however is not about Leadership by way of position. It’s not Leadership that is required of
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you by way of work, not leadership by way of telling others what to do. It is not leadership by way of title, not leadership by way of text book knowledge, not leadership by way of fear. It is about a form of leadership that is required for your life, as a human being. Leadership by way of ownership. Leadership by way of self, Leadership by way of action, Leaderhip by example to be a role model for those around you. I am referring to Leadership From Within.. All too often people are looking at their outer world to makes changes, when in reality they need to first and foremost look into their inner world. In the famous words of Mahatma Gandhi “ Be change you want to see in the world” A statement I use both personally and to remind my clients when ever they are frustrated with their results in life is to “Seek in order to Sort Out”
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You must take control of your life, and Lead from within, in order to make and see the changes you would like in the outer world. Change the inside and you will automatically see changes in your outer world. I will share with you a simple thought in order to help you Lead from Within. I believe it will help propel your life and results to The Next Level. I want you to picture a beautiful sunny day. You are on a boat in the sea. You got that in your mind? Now, where you are sitting on the boat, you notice an OAR.
This Oar is no ordinary oar. When you break it to it’s alphabet, the OAR spells: O - Ownership A - Accountability R - Responsibility At the bottom of your mental picture, is the sea bed. And this sea bed is no ordinary sea bed. The BED spells: B - Blame E - Excuses D - Denial 40
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“When it comes to excuses, this plays out with many people who say they will do something and don’t” Operating from a place of blame, means nothing is ever their fault. It is always somebody else’s. If things go right, they like to take the credit for it, and if it goes wrong, all their fingers ant more fast enough to look for people to blame. Anything and everything that moves (or breathes) is at risk of being blamed. When it comes to excuses, this plays out with many people who say they will do something and don’t. They then go on to find 1001 excuses why they couldn’t do what they had initially promised to
do. The excuses become so convincing to themselves that they will even wonder, how you began with the expectation of getting things done considering there were so many looming challenges. Then there is denial. A common aspect where people are unwilling to consider that the world has changed significantly, and how they are required to make changes, sacrifices and investments in order to adapt and better their results. People coming from a place of denial tend get stand offish saying that where they are is “not so bad after all”, and hence evade the truth of the pain they are suffering. I have only given you a quick example of each of the above you to get a clear understanding of each point. I hate to be a bearer of bad news, but sadly many operate in their lives from a place of blame, excuses and denial. Those who choose to take control of their life and who Lead from Within play the game by holding on to the Oar. They Exhibit Ownership, Accountability and Responsibility. When it comes to their life, they know that they have to take ownership
and take control. When it comes to being accountable, if a certain expectation is set, then they will ensure that they ensure they meet those expectation set, with a what ever it takes attitude. Responsibility comes from a place where for example if as a group, a temporary setback or failure is faced, the leader understands and accepts responsibility for the lack of results. After all, they were the captain in command, captain of your troops, and more importantly captain of your own boat. Which do you think is easier to do.? Of course it’s easier to be at the bottom of the sea bed, point the finger at some one when things go wrong, come up with excuses of why you can’t do something, or not take a true stock take of where you are and where you want to go. But Leading from Within is not about picking something that is easy to do. It is about making a choice. The choice of whether of which place to operate from That is entirely up to you. All I can suggest is that if you were to speak with any successful person, you
will find that they have chosen to play their game of life based on the OAR. Lead from within, and live by the OAR. Have a Winning Month.
(Kevin Abdulrahman is an International Author, Motivational Public Speaker on Leadership and Mind Nutrition Expert. He is making his third book available to the readers of BIG. Log on to http://www. kevinAbdulrahman.com/thegift and enter the code “Vision” to receive your free copy.)
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