Leading and Motivating
By Brian Tracy
Click to Receive Daily Inspirational Quotes The most motivational vision you can have for yourself and others is
to “Be the best!” Many people don’t yet realize that excellent performance
in serving other people is an absolute, basic essential for survival
in the economy of the future. Many individuals and companies still adhere
to the idea that as long as they are no worse than anyone else, they
can remain in business. That is just plain silly! It is prehistoric
thinking. We are now in the age of excellence. Customers assume that
they will get excellent quality, and if they don’t, they will go to
your competitors so fast, people’s heads will spin. Integrity means that you, as a leader, admit your shortcomings. It means
that you work to develop your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses.
Integrity means that you tell the truth, and that you live the truth
in everything that you do and in all your relationships. Integrity means
that you deal straightforwardly with people and situations and that
you do not compromise what you believe to be true.
The starting point of motivational leadership is to begin seeing yourself
as a role model, seeing yourself as an example to others. See yourself
as a person who sets the standards that others follow. A key characteristic
of leaders is that they set high standards of accountability for themselves
and for their behaviors. They assume that others are watching them and
then setting their own standards by what they do. They, in fact, lead
by example, just exactly as though someone were following them around,
surreptitiously taking notes and photographs of their daily actions
for others to see and act on.
Motivational leadership is based on the Law of Indirect Effort. According
to this law, most things in human life are achieved more easily by indirect
means than they are by direct means. You more easily become a leader
to others by demonstrating that you have the qualities of leadership
than you do by ordering others to follow your directions. Instead of
trying to get people to emulate you, you concentrate on living a life
that is so admirable that others want to be like you without your saying
a word.
In business, there are several kinds of power. Two of these are ascribed
power and position power.
Ascribed power is the power you gain because of the kind of person you
are. In every organization, there are people who are inordinately influential
and looked up to by others, even though their positions may not be high
up on the organizational chart. These are the men and women who are
genuine leaders because of the quality of the people they have become,
because of their characters and their personalities.
Perhaps the most powerful of motivational leaders is the person who
practices what is called “servant leadership.” Confucius said, “He who
would be master must be servant of all.” The person who sees himself
or herself as a servant, and who does everything possible to help others
to perform at their best, is practicing the highest form of servant
leadership.
Over the years, we have been led to believe that leaders are those who
stride boldly about, exude power and confidence, give orders and make
decisions for others to carry out. However, that is old school. The
leader of today is the one who asks questions, listens carefully, plans
diligently and then builds consensus among all those who are necessary
for achieving the goals. The leader does not try to do it by himself
or herself. The leader gets things done by helping others to do them.
This brings us to five of the qualities of motivational leaders. These
are qualities that you already have to a certain degree and that you
can develop further to stand out from the people around you in a very
short period of time.
The first quality is vision.
This is the one single quality that, more
than anything, separates leaders from followers. Leaders have vision.
Followers do not. Leaders have the ability to stand back and see the
big picture. Followers are caught up in day-to-day activities. Leaders
have developed the ability to fix their eyes on the horizon and see
greater possibilities. Followers are those whose eyes are fixed on the
ground in front of them and who are so busy that they seldom look at
themselves and their activities in a larger context.
George Bernard Shaw summarized this quality of leaders; in the words
of one of his characters: “Most men look at what is and ask, ‘Why?’
I instead look at what could be and ask, ‘Why not?’”
The best way for you to motivate others is to be motivated yourself.
The fastest way to get others excited about a project is to get excited
yourself. The way to get others committed to achieving a goal or a result
is to be totally committed yourself. The way to build loyalty to your
organization, and to other people, is to be an example of loyalty in
everything you say and do. These all are applications of the Law of
Indirect Effort. They very neatly tie in to the quality of vision.
One requirement of leadership is the ability to choose an area of excellence.
Just as a good general chooses the terrain on which to do battle, an
excellent leader chooses the area in which he and others are going to
do an outstanding job. The commitment to excellence is one of the most
powerful of all motivators. All leaders who change people and organizations
are enthusiastic about achieving excellence in a particular area.
As a leader, your job is to be excellent at what you do, to be the best
in your chosen field of endeavor. Your job is to have a vision of high
standards in serving people. You not only exemplify excellence in your
own behavior, but you also translate it to others so that they, too,
become committed to this vision.
This is the key to servant leadership. It is the commitment to doing
work of the highest quality in the service of other people, both inside
and outside the organization. Leadership today requires an equal focus
on the people who must do the job, on the one hand, and the people who
are expected to benefit from the job, on the other.
The second quality, which is perhaps the single most respected quality
of leaders, is integrity. Integrity is complete, unflinching honesty
with regard to everything that you say and do. Integrity underlies all
the other qualities. Your measure of integrity is determined by how
honest you are in the critical areas of your life. Integrity means this:
When someone asks you at the end of the day, “Did you do your very best?”
you can look him in the eye and say, “Yes!” Integrity means this: When
someone asks you if you could have done it better, you can honestly
say, “No, I did everything I possibly could.”
If the first two qualities of motivational leadership are vision and
integrity, the third quality is the one that backs them both up. It
is courage. It is the chief distinguishing characteristic of the true
leader. It is almost always visible in the leader’s words and actions.
It is absolutely indispensable to success, happiness and the ability
to motivate other people to be the best they can be.
In a way, it is easy to develop a big vision for yourself and for the
person you want to be. It is easy to commit yourself to living with
complete integrity. But it requires incredible courage to follow through
on your vision and on your commitments. You see, as soon as you set
a high goal or standard for yourself, you will run into all kinds of
difficulties and setbacks. You will be surrounded by temptations to
compromise your values and your vision. You will feel an almost irresistible
urge to “get along by going along.” Your desire to earn the respect
and cooperation of others can easily lead to the abandonment of your
principles, and here is where courage comes in.
Courage combined with integrity is the foundation of character. The
first form of courage is your ability to stick to your principles, to
stand for what you believe in and to refuse to budge unless you feel
right about the alternative. Courage is also the ability to step out
in faith, to launch out into the unknown and then to face the inevitable
doubt and uncertainty that accompany every new venture.
Most people are seduced by the lure of the comfort zone.
Yet, when he was at the height of his power, the master of the known world, the greatest ruler in history to that date, he would still draw his sword at the beginning of a battle and lead his men forward into the conflict. He insisted on leading by example. Alexander felt that he could not ask his men to risk their lives unless he was willing to demonstrate by his actions that he had complete confidence in the outcome. The sight of Alexander charging forward so excited and motivated his soldiers that no force on earth could stand before them.
The fourth quality of motivational leadership is realism. Realism is a form of intellectual honesty. The realist insists upon seeing the world as it really is, not as he wishes it were. This objectivity, this refusal to engage in self-delusion, is a mark of the true leader. Those who exhibit the quality of realism do not trust to luck, hope for miracles, pray for exceptions to basic business principles, expect rewards without working or hope that problems will go away by themselves. These all are examples of self-delusion, of living in a fantasyland.
The motivational leader insists on seeing things exactly as they are and encourages others to look at life the same way. As a motivational leader, you get the facts, whatever they are. You deal with people honestly and tell them exactly what you perceive to be the truth. This doesn’t mean that you will always be right, but you will always be expressing the truth in the best way you know how.
The fifth quality of motivational leadership is responsibility. This
is perhaps the hardest of all to develop. The acceptance of responsibility
means that, as Harry Truman said, “The buck stops here.”
The game of life is very competitive. Sometimes, great success and great
failure are separated by a very small distance. In watching the play-offs
in basketball, baseball and football, we see that the winner can be
decided by a single point, and that single point can rest on a single
action, or inaction, on the part of a single team member at a critical
part of the game.
Life is very much like competitive sports. Very small things that you
do, or don’t do, can either give you the edge that leads to victory
or take away your edge at the critical moment. This principle is especially
true with regard to accepting responsibility for yourself and for everything
that happens to you.
The opposite of accepting responsibility is making excuses, blaming
others and becoming upset, angry and resentful toward people for what
they have done to you or not done for you.
Any one of these three behaviors can trip you up and be enough to cost
you the game:
If you run into an obstacle or setback and you make excuses rather than
accept responsibility, it’s a five-yard penalty. It can cost you a first
down. It can cost you a touchdown. It can make the difference between
success and failure.
If, when you face a problem or setback, and you both make excuses and
blame someone else, you get a 10-yard penalty. In a tightly contested
game, where the teams are just about even, a 10-yard penalty can cost
you the game.
If, instead of accepting responsibility when things go wrong, you make
excuses, blame someone else and simultaneously become angry and resentful
and blow up, you get a 15-yard penalty. This may cost you the championship
and your career as well if it continues. Personal leadership and motivational
leadership are very much the same. To lead others, you must first lead
yourself. To be an example or a role model for others, you must first
become an excellent person yourself.
You motivate yourself with a big vision, and as you move progressively
toward its realization, you motivate and enthuse others to work with
you to fulfill that vision.
You exhibit absolute honesty and integrity with everyone in everything
you do. You are the kind of person others admire and respect and want
to be like. You set a standard that others aspire to. You live in truth
with yourself and others so that they feel confident giving you their
support and their commitment.
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You demonstrate courage in everything you do by facing doubts and uncertainties
and moving forward regardless. You put up a good front even when you
feel anxious about the outcome. You don’t burden others with your fears
and misgivings. You keep them to yourself. You constantly push yourself
out of your comfort zone and in the direction of your goals. And no
matter how bleak the situation might appear, you keep on keeping on
with a smile.
You are intensely realistic. You refuse to engage in mental games or
self-delusion. You encourage others to be realistic and objective about
their situations as well. You encourage them to realize and appreciate
that there is a price to pay for everything they want. They have weaknesses
that they will have to overcome, and they have standards that they will
have to meet, if they want to survive and thrive in a competitive market.
You accept complete responsibility for results. You refuse to make excuses
or blame others or hold grudges against people who you feel may have
wronged you. You say, “If it’s to be, it’s up to me.” You repeat over
and over the words, “I am responsible. I am responsible. I am responsible.”
Finally, you take action. You know that all mental preparation and character
building is merely a prelude to action. It’s not what you say but what
you do that counts.
The mark of the true leader is that he or she leads the action. He or
she is willing to go first. He or she sets the example and acts as the
role model. He or she does what he or she expects others to do. You
become a motivational leader by motivating yourself. And you motivate
yourself by striving toward excellence, by committing yourself to becoming
everything you are capable of becoming. You motivate yourself by throwing
your whole heart into doing your job in an excellent fashion. You motivate
yourself and others by continually looking for ways to help others to
improve their lives and achieve their goals. You become a motivational
leader by becoming the kind of person others want to get behind and
support in every way.
Your main job is to take complete control of your personal evolution
and become a leader in every area of your life. You could ask for nothing
more, and you should settle for nothing less.
By Brian Tracy
