David Albon - Leadership

David Albon - Leadership Leadership is like a personality: there are no two people with exactly the same style. This does not mean that leadership is something you are born with, however. It means that it is something most people take for granted. Either you are a good leader or you are not. This is the great lie; leaders are not born; they are made. From an early age, one can see that the biggest or oldest or strongest kids often are put in leadership roles. This allows them to develop their skills, and often they learn to lead through experience. Usually, the trend continues, and a kid who was top dog moves to their next grade only to find there is another top dog. The cycle never ends.

Some people believe that people do not have leadership styles. They believe that people have personalities and knowledge and a way of thinking, and that leadership is something one can wield like a tool. The more leadership styles one is comfortable with, the more kinds of styles they can use. This is true to some extent: someone used to managing a store will not necessarily be good at leading a meeting, for example. Leadership is easy whenever the water is calm, but once the storm comes is when true leaders emerge. It is absolutely true that leadership styles can be learned, and that experience and knowledge play into each individual style. Leadership can be improved, and it can grow worse. However, when a leader is asked to deal with difficult situations is when they are able to show who they are as a leader.

Leadership is more than having a position and telling people what to do. There are uncountable numbers of situations a leader might be put through, but it is how a leader can bring a group through dire situations that define them. Some leaders panic, others stay calm, others break down.

David Albon has been an aspiring leader since a very young age. He planned out his own business when he was a boy, and did odd jobs for very little pay. He set goals and decided he would go to college and become an accomplished businessman. At college, he studied varied subjects including foreign languages, communication, and business. He was able to lead large groups of people and became an extremely successful businessperson. To this day, decades later, he says he is working his dream job and would not give it up for any other.