Leadership Development Series Part 1: 10 Challenges Leaders Face

To begin with, in my own experience on leadership development, I have hardly ever come across any book that talks about the challenges leaders face. In my opinion, the first step to developing leadership ability is to know the challenges that leaders ahead of us face almost daily. These challenges that leaders face vary from one leader to another. Some leaders have even faced all these challenges before but have been able to learn from them while some did not deal with these challenges well and it has been their downfall. Thus, it is left to you reading this to decide whether or not you will learn from these challenges and become a better leader than you currently are.

The challenges listed below are not exhaustive and they are based on my own study and experience therefore there may be others out here but these ones can serve as a skeletal frame for the ones not mentioned. 

1.  Pride. This is obviously one of the biggest challenges leaders face. Pride can cause so many problems. Pride is different from confidence. Pride is thinking about yourself higher than you actually are. Pride in leaders usually stems from the root of insecurity. It will also affect your relationship with your followers. 

Leadership Development Series...

 Please watch out for the Leadership Development Series that commences tomorrow 14th of September, 2013. I'll be sharing some practicable leadership truths and ideas with you guys. I hope you'll all be able to learn a lot. It' different from what the textbook leadership stuff give us. It's more relatable 'cos it's from personal experience.

SILENCE: A GIFT WE MUST LEARN TO VALUE

“Silence is a gift. Value its essence.” Too many times we have failed to realise the importance that of silence. If only we could talk less and enjoy meaningful silence more. Silence is useless until it is put to proper use. We have to learn the importance of silence- wise silence. Read what esoteric philosophy has to say about human attitude towards silence:

Folk Wisdom has intuitively grasped the importance of silence, enshrined in the saying, “Speech is silver, but silence is golden.”

MONEY, POWER AND ALCOHOL

In my short time on earth, I have come to discover that most times, people are never as they seem to be. Appearances are deceiving. Most of the times, the versions of people that we meet are either "cropped and edited" or largely inexperienced in the realities of life.

People try to be what they are not and aspire to be what they shouldn’t; but then, that’s life as we know it. They say it is not good to judge people, but how can you relate and function well with someone if you haven’t judged the person’s persona and bearing in life. Shouldn’t you at least find out what type of person he/she truly is? The truth is, even the ‘best and holiest’ people may fall short (but that’s a topic for another time).

JUST 'COS YOU'RE BLIND, DOESN'T MEAN GOD ISN'T REAL

A man once stood on a soapbox at Hyde Park Corner, London, England, sneering the Christian faith. In ridicule he said: “People say that God exists; but I can’t see him. People tell me that there is life after death; but I can’t see it. People tell me that there’s a judgment to come; but I can’t see it. People tell me that there is a Heaven and a hell; but I can’t see them.” He won cheap applause and climbed down from his ‘pulpit’.

Another man struggled to climb on to the soapbox. “People tell me that there is green grass all around, but I can’t see it. People tell me that there is blue sky above, but I can’t see it. People tell me there are trees nearby, but I can’t see them. You see, I am blind.”

Today, we come across an alarming number of people who question God’s existence, saying that God is just a myth because no one has ever seen Him and because their minds are too little and too limited to fathom the existence of this magnificent Being. However, I am fully persuaded beyond all doubt –reasonable or unreasonable- that God is real and He is forever. The things we see are temporary and they have their roots from the invisible. The things unseen are forever. However, one can never think further than he knows. Anyone who doubts God is actually an ignoramus. “The Fool says in his heart that there is no God.”

God is real and Jesus is real. They are more real than even your own existence as a human being. He paid the price for our sins so He can be our Friend and Father again. His grace is available for us all.

VALUE YOUR TIME...AND PEOPLE WILL VALUE IT

Frankly, I’m tired of people popping into my life at odd times and expecting me to do their bidding. They act like they are the boss of me and like they own me or something! How I hate it when people just disrupt a day I’ve planned ahead of me, making me do things they probably can do by themselves.

Truth is, I don’t blame them, and it’s actually my fault. It’s because I’ve failed to draw boundaries in my relationships with others. I’ve failed to make the “don’t cross this line” areas known to them, so they just come in and go out as often as they want.

If only I can set boundaries in the use of my time, people will respect it more and in the process, respect me more also. They will know when it’s ‘me time’ and when it’s ‘us time’. But the thing is it’s easier said than done. I know I need discipline and courage to stand up to my friends and ward them off at the times I need to be alone, the times I need to think for me and enjoy the sound of silence and peace.

Until I can do this, they’ll just keep taking me for granted and I’ll just keep wasting precious time trying to live my life for others instead of for myself forgetting that “time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.” -Carl Sandburg

HOW LAZINESS SAVES US ALL

Disclaimer: This article is in no way influenced by a book you might know to be “How Laziness Saved my Life” by Mr. Okechukwu Ofili. That being said, I must let you know that I agree with the notion that laziness has been of more benefit to mankind than you think. Yeah, I mean it. Someone once said that “I like to hire lazy people in my organization because they always find the easy way out”. I do not know who made that statement and I frankly, I do not care but my point is that I agree with him/her 100%.

Progress has always been bordered by the desire to become better and to see that things are done in a better and much simpler way. Look at it like this: we, humans, got tired of striking stones together (which can be annoying) so we invented matchsticks; we got tired of storing unnecessary information and performing some annoying tasks so we invented the computer; our ability to lift weights was limited so we invented cranes and fork lifters; we couldn’t keep cutting so much grass, thus, the lawn mower.

Every machine, every invention has been created for the sake of making life simpler for us all. We must start harnessing our ability to be lazy to invent more ways to make life better. Laziness makes us imagine things we never thought we needed.  Let’s embrace hard work laziness and start thinking of ways to make our laziness look more fashionable. Everyone loves the easy way out (well, almost everyone).

WHAT YOU GAIN BY FORGIVING PEOPLE

Why do I have to forgive someone who has obviously wronged me? Why do I have to apologize sometimes to people even when I’m not at fault? Well, from my own understanding, I know that forgiveness is solely an act of selfishness. Yes, it is selfish to forgive.

Forgiveness doesn’t add anything to the person I’m holding the grudge against. Forgiveness only gives me peace of mind. It helps me concentrate fully even when the person who annoyed me steps into the room. Forgiveness mops up the awkwardness attached to such situations.

No one is worth holding a grudge against. You must never allow another human dictate your mood. Don’t let another human being determine when you should or should not be happy. You must never sacrifice your joy and happiness for the sake of flimsy emotions. Stop holding grudges.

Make up your mind to forgive people even before they offend you. It costs you nothing to forgive, but it might cost you everything valuable not to forgive people. Don’t let quarrels and arguments that are bound to happen get in the way of your freedom.

It’s so bad that unforgiveness makes God not to forgive your own wrongs. When you refuse to forgive people, God will not forgive your sins (Matt. 6:15). It doesn’t profit you anything if you are unforgiving but it will cost you a lot.

Choose to be free. Choose to be happy. Choose to forgive. It helps a lot.

DON'T LET THEM MISS THEIR CHILDHOOD

Today is Children's Day and I'm glad about it. I'll be lying if I say I don't miss the good ol' days when we would run around under the rain and play with sand and not feel the least bit ashamed about it. I miss the days when we would throw stones at people's windows and run to hide hoping we don't get caught. Yeah, I was that mischievous. The truth is, anyone of us with a good childhood will miss those days. The memories are still fresh in my mind and they are still as precious as ever.

"Every child is special so make them know it." Yes, children are special. There are so many miracles in life that I attach to the smile of every baby I see. The innocence; the peace; the ignorance of the evil around them. How I long to go back...but I can't.

If you're reading this and you have children make sure you treat them right because whatever you do to them today will determine how they will see you in future and what would become of them. If you don't have children yet, make a vow today to make sure you make them feel as special as possible. Give them the fairy tale life you probably never had. Make sure their childhood years are years they'll live to remember  Don't let them miss their childhood. Don't deprive them of those awesome memories. To the young ones reading this, even if you feel like the world is against you, relax, 'cos it's not. Everything will work out for your good. God LOVES you so much...and I do too. HAPPY CHILDREN'S DAY!!!

THE CONCEPT OF PRIORITY

Everyone of us is under the control of the concept of priority. It is up to us to determine whether or not our priorities will be right ones. Here are some truths about priorities:

• The greatest secret of life for living effectively is your understanding of the concept of priority. 
• The greatest tragedy is not death, it is a life of wrong priorities. 
•  The greatest mistake any man can make in life is to be busy but not effective. 
•  Life’s greatest failure is to be successful in the wrong assignment. 

Priority means putting first things first. A priority is something that must be done first and needs more attention than others. God must be your number one priority. Pleasing and living for Him must be the most important thing to you. Matthew 6:33

A correct priority does you great good. It protects your time and energy. It powers your decisions; it helps you make correct decisions. It confers discipline on you. It preserves and protects your life. It guarantees progress. Progress in life is determined by movement in the RIGHT DIRECTION. Set priorities today. Get yourself together. Put your life in order and you’ll be glad you did.