7 Tools for Living a Leadership Lifestyle!

This is an article I wrote for a presentation a few years ago but it is still very accurate today.  Being a leader is a gift and yet a challenge.  I have grown into more and more of a leader over the years.  Embrace the areas of your life where you have a leadership role and learn to lead better.

Here are 7 tools for living a leadership lifestyle!

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1. Listen:  Listen to yourself, your employees, your team, your family, your colleagues and your friends.  Good leaders know how to listen and read between the lines.  Listening is a lost art.  Get really good at it!  Then pass it on….It will be caught, not taught!
2. Learn:  Be a life-long learner.  Pass your information out to all that you come in contact with.  Learn something new every day from books, magazines, websites, speakers, and people.  Often the most import lesson to learn is right in front of you in the form of your greatest successes and biggest failures!
3. Leverage: Leaders use their leverage, no matter what it is.  It might be your time, your money, your connections, or your talents.  Use what you have to bless those you lead.  Help them to find their own unique leverage!
4. Let Go:  Be ready to let go of your image of control.  You really have no control anyway.  Let go of what you think the answer is, and allow people to grow and share their gifts.  Lead by your example.  Let go of perfectionism in the workplace and at home.
5. Linger:  Take a long lunch with your team.  Ask more questions.  Get out and about on the floor, with the staff, at the meeting.  Things always take longer than we think they will….allow for it.  Allow extra time for the discussion before and after the meeting.  Allow people time to talk.
6. Laugh:  Leaders learn to laugh at themselves….a lot!  Show the people around you that it is OK to have fun and that you make it a high priority in your life.  They will do what you do, becoming more and more like you.  Is that something that you want, as you consider your life today?
7. Love:  The people in your life, need LOVE!  They want to know that they matter to you and that they are making a difference in big and small ways daily.  They want you to see and acknowledge who they are.  Celebrate the people around you by giving love, affection, and words of encouragement freely!  Don’t hold back or withhold this simple yet challenging gift.  It is the most powerful motivator of all!

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Learn to live a leadership lifestyle today!

[graybox]Diane Cunningham is the Founder and President of the National Association of Christian Women Entrepreneurs. She is a “business therapist”, plane crash survivor, author, consultant, speaker, marathon runner, and fun friend. Find out more about NACWE and why 165 women joined in the first year at www.NACWE.org.

Connect with Diane at www.facebook.com/DianeCunningham for fun updates, silly videos, and lively conversation.

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