How many 18 year old young adults out there are truly leaders today? Not many and this is a fact! Why do I say this? Well, first of all, I am the product of this education system and from the experience I had in the army, all I met was mostly failed leadership. How many 18 year old young adults out there are truly leaders today? Not many and this is a fact! Why do I say this? Well, first of all, I am the product of this education system and from the experience I had in the army, all I met was mostly failed leadership. Luckily, the government has taken steps and actions to remedy the situation through new integrated programs to foster leadership in schools and away from rote-learning. With time, perhaps we will be learning such skills more effectively. However, it’s because of my negative experiences with bad leaders that make me wonder:” How can an 18 year old young adult really learn about leadership?” and “What are some of the fundamentals of good leadership an 18 year old must have?”

The purpose of my title as well as the opening statement serves to capture your attention and to get you to read on since a typical 18 year old young adult do get turn off with such topics. I hope that you continue to read this article and take at least one idea to implement in your life.

What is meant by leadership? American Management Consultant, Peter F. Drucker has this to say,” Leadership is not magnetic personality-that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not making friends and influencing people-that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher

sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.” This is the true picture of leadership and now let’s takes a look at some of the details.

A leader has to have a team. Not any team with members he randomly picks. This only happens in school where the teacher assigns you your team members. A true leader learns to make his own decisions in choosing the members he required in his team. By learning to do so, he forms a

mastermind team, a team whose vision and values aligned with the leader. It requires courage, skill, experience, good EQ as well as intelligence to assemble and maintain such a team. From selecting the right members to planning to execution of the plans, it requires hard work and effort. In this team …

A leader is foremost a servant. He has to first give then receive. The notion of giving solely is so foreign to many of us that we are constantly into the W.I.T.F.M (What’s in it for me ) and R.O.I ( Return of Investment ) that we fail to give a little at all. Why are we so afraid to give that little bit?

Don’t we realize that there is a universal law - “The Law of Compensation” like the law of gravity which governs us 24/7? This law states that you will always be compensated for your efforts and for your contributions, whatever it is, however much or however little. Don’t always ask for

something in return. Have faith in the law and do give more than you receive.

So what does the leader actually give? He gives encouragement; he is motivated by the wish to empower his members, to bring out the best of his mastermind team. He is supportive to every team member and never ridicules, condemns or ignores ideas contributed. How else can he

encourage, he does so by delegating, and this empowers them for the role of the leader is to nurture his followers into leaders. Why is this consider empowerment? Johann Wolfgang von Goethe explains, “Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them become

what they are capable of being.” The greatest ability of the leader is recognizing the ability in others and encourages it.”

To lead is also to show the way by going in advance. A leader has to lead by example. He has to take the first step. This inspires great confidence, courage and strength in the team. A team performs best with such a leader. So where does the leader lead his followers to? To places where they wish to go, but wouldn’t go alone. This is what a true leader does, to inspire his team not only with words but with action, meaningful action that requires courage.

There are many qualities of a good leader which I cannot write about in such a short article. If you truly desire to be a good leader, take action to become one, start by reading a book on leadership, any small step helps. To conclude, heed the timeless principle of leadership by American business philosopher Jim Rohn, “The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.”



Thanks to Joel Chue for contributing this article to our Leadership Development blog:

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