Leaders and Resolutions

Leaders

Tis the season for many things. Not the least of which is making New Year’s Resolutions. Each of us should consider making some resolutions. And as leaders, here are a few that I think you should consider putting on your list.

Resolve This Year To Be A Better Leader — This one is exceedingly obvious. Yet it is surprising how many leaders are not intentional about developing their leadership skills. So, resolve this year to find some way to increase your leadership skills and abilities. There are so many resources available to help us develop as leaders. Several resources jump to the forefront of my mind at the very thought of leadership development. I am a very big fan of Leadercast and I have been a co-sponsor of one of the local simulcasts here in the Houston area. There are also many books on leadership that can be obtained via Kindle at much lower costs rather than in hard copy. Nearly all of my books are in some eReader format. Just reach out to me if you are looking for resources and I can help you identify some.

Resolve This Year To Be A Better Follower — This one is not so obvious. Every great leader is not a great leader alone. Every great leader has someone that they are following, look up to, admire, or are in some form of mentoring relationship. So, resolve this year to become a better follower. This sends a very strong signal to our followers how important being a follower is to their own ability to lead. Never allow yourself to begin to think that you are beyond the need to be a follower.

Resolve This Year To Build Another Leader — This is the oft-forgotten role of truly great leaders. These leaders are concerned about the legacy that they will leave behind. It has been said that one of the key responsibilities of a leader is to build more leaders rather than just building followers. So, resolve this year to pour yourself into the life of some young leader and help build their leadership skills. It is hard to release the reigns of leadership and allow others to lead. But as leaders, we must always be providing opportunities for new and younger leaders to gain valuable experience.

Resolve This Year to Build Another Follower — This is one of the true marks of your leadership abilities. The ancient proverb says, “The man who thinks he leads and has no followers is only taking a walk.” Do you have followers? So, resolve this year to increase your number of followers. Let’s not build our number of followers for the sake of a big number. It is infinitely more important to build quality followers who are passionate about where you are leading. But it is unavoidable to consider the impact that we are having and the number of followers is one of the metrics that we would want to use to gauge our effectiveness and our reach.

Are there other New Year’s Resolutions that you may want to consider making and incorporating into your life this year? Sure. But I wanted to focus on some that you may want to consider that will have direct implications upon your leadership abilities. Leave us a comment below and share one of your resolutions. This will build a small amount of accountability into your resolutions and it will greatly increase your likelihood of accomplishing the goal set out in the resolution.

Happy New Year from Kevin Bowser and the friends and contributors to LeadershipVoices.com.

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