Leadership is a very important asset to have. However, it is not necessary to have the title of CEO or President to be a leader. Therefore, almost everyone has the potential to be a leader, provided we learn to lead ourselves before we can lead others.
How do we define leadership? Robert Schuller defines leadership as “the force that selects your dreams and sets your goals; the force that provides the impetus necessary to succeed in achieving your goals.”
Principle #1: Don’t turn leadership over to outside forces
In other words, don’t let other situations or circumstances stop you from solving a problem. Problems don’t usually go away on their own; we have to take charge or somehow control the problem so that it can be solved. For example, if you want to start a new business or change careers, don’t let external forces like lack of money, education, experience, or negative comments from family and friends keep you from reaching your goals. One of my favorite Schuller slogans is “the shoe doesn’t tell the foot how much to grow. The body doesn’t cede leadership to the garment.” If you’re short of money, don’t give up on your goal just because of that. Instead, find a way to legally raise money, such as: taking out a loan, working a second job, or scrimping pennies. The point is don’t give up, take control and eventually the money will come. Schuller affirms in his book that there is a universal principle that manifests itself: money flows towards good ideas; good ideas beget other good ideas; dreams inspire creativity in money management.
I can personally attest to this principle. In August 2004, I was laid off from my job as a laboratory supervisor that I had held for almost 20 years. Of course he had no control over the situation of being fired (who does?), but he did have control over how he chose to respond to the situation. After going through the normal feelings of shock, disbelief, resentment, and anger, I was ready to pull myself together and make a plan about how to get another job. I updated my resume, signed up with several temp agencies, posted my resume online, and attended several job fairs. Every day I was consistent in doing something that would bring me one step closer to finding another job; I did not hand over leadership to the outside force of being fired. My persistence in doing what I had to do finally paid off in February 2005 when I found a new job.
The whole experience of getting laid off has taught me that life will throw you a curve every once in a while, but it’s up to me to choose how I want to handle the curves. It has reinforced my belief that everything that happens in life happens for a purpose: God’s purpose. As we travel on the journey called life, it is up to us to make the decision to become a better person instead of a bitter person when problems confront us.