Can leadership be taught?

I’ve always been amazed at people who lead.

I’ve always been amazed at people who lead.

People who seem to fall into the role naturally.

Even though I generally am considered a leader in my day to day, for a long time I didn’t even know how to lead.

I had found something I loved doing, but I didn’t know how to direct it.

Then as a result of professional accident, I turned to teaching.

I was thrust into the role.

Which interestingly enough, turned into leadership.

Most people either hate teaching or adore it, but I found that my students actually appreciated the help I offered and learned much from it.

Most importantly.

How to lead.

Since then I’ve found that helping others — learning from them — is much more valuable than trying to convince people of my own truth.

It’s a precursor and much more effective path to leading as well.

Ultimately it doesn’t matter how good I am at things, all that matters is how well I can teach the things that I’m good at.

But regardless, we still need to have a few core principles around how to lead & to teach.

Principles that are seen in successful leaders.

Principles that I wish I was taught from a younger age.

Here are seven of them:

Have a plan, stick to it

If you don’t know where you’re going, how in the world can you ever get there? To inspire people to follow your vision, you need a mission, you need to set clear priorities for the next year (and the year after that). You need a plan to get to the end game, or be prepared to work to refine your mission.

Listen first

Most leaders overestimate their abilities and undervalue those around them. Next time you hear your own voice, challenge it. Better yet, challenge the many voices that surround you. Listen with your eyes, ears, and heart as well as your mind.

Act as if everyone is your partner

Most of the people around you are even more talented than you (and most of them make a lot more money than you do). It’s essential to recognize that and then try to help them (without expectations). This isn’t always easy, but it is well worth the effort.

Keep quiet

The best leaders don’t necessarily answer the questions for the masses. The best leadership creates an environment in which people can think for themselves. Leaders may be surrounded by “yes men,” but ultimately everyone will all still be enriched. Learn from leaders that create this environment and use the wisdom that they might find in silence.

Don’t want the applause? That’s ok

Most of the executives I’ve known over the years have struggled with this one. They’ve spent years vying for praise and the spotlight. They may have lost sight of what they do for real: people. They forget that it’s the little things that count and it’s the individual impacts that really make a leader.

Look for ways to give back

That’s not to say you can’t enjoy success. But many of the success stories are those of people who gave their time and talent to helping other people. The people they helped made big contributions in their immediate role, but they also made big improvements to their communities and organizations. Who knows what they could’ve accomplished if they hadn’t put in their time?

Don’t look to blame people

Lots of us use blame as an approach to decision making. It’s much easier than taking responsibility, but remember this one line. A good leader celebrates in public and criticizes in private. A good leader adopts extreme ownership of all outcomes, good or bad and only focuses on to learn and improve, not dwell on the past and commiserate over failures.

No matter what your challenges are, no matter what decisions you have to make, no matter what industry you work in, it is always important to remember that by having these core leadership principles, you can set you and your peers up for success.

Stop reinventing the wheel.

Understand what it takes to be a leader, and start living these values, before you need to learn what a leader isn’t, the hard way.