My Ten Commandments of Leadership

To be in a position of LEADERSHIP is a serious matter.  Those who wish to lead should be well equipped with a balance of business sense and people skills.  Tipping the scale either way could make or break a department, a company, and even a country.  

A bad leadership breeds dissent and organizational breakdown.  We don't want that, right?

The best leaders are those who know what it is to follow.  So allow me to share with you my 10 Commandments for a Good Leadership based on my 23 years of being a follower:

1.  Be a good example. This is mainly based on values.  The values that you hold dear is reflective of how you do things.

2.  Know where you're going.  The question is, "How can you LEAD if you don't know where you want to go?"  Be wary of the leader who don't have a sense of direction.

4.  Be clear in your directions.  Knowing where you want to go does not guarantee that you'll be able to get your team to get there.  Communicating your goals to others and how you need them to do it is as important as having  the vision of your goal.

5.  Define your people's deliverables.  Quality should always be the top of mind. Your people should know what is expected of them.  They should know the rewards of exemplary work and the penalty for a lackluster one. 

6.  Give credit where credit is due.  As Maya Angelou would say, "People  will  forget what you did, they will forget what you said, but people will never forget how you made them feel."  A leader must have the power to build morale.  Stroking the ego of a subordinate for a job well done is an effective tool in morale building and in the process strengthens confidence which in turn spurs autonomy.   Leaders should not baby sitters.  Leaders build effective teams and organizations.

7.  Be accountable.  The buck stops with you.  If your people fail, you fail.  Never forget that.

8.  Be a teacher and mentor.  The greatest legacy of a leader is being able to mold future leaders.  A leader is not threatened to mentor a secondary to ensure business continuity and relishes in the notion that even without his presence those whom he leaves behind is competent to keep the business going.

9.  Always look for better ways of doing things.  Like the parable of the talents a leader must have something to show for at the end of his term.  To leave the position and hand over the very same organization when you took over is an affront to the company that hired you and a total waste of investment.

10.  Have a lot of patience.  It is hard to be a leader.  Dealing with different kinds of people, knowing their idiosyncrasies,  strengths and limitations require a chameleon-like quality of adapting.  Trust and respect are not automatic privileges of the position.  It is earned through time and a whole lot of relationship building. 

The Virtue of Patience

Experience told me not to expect all the good in life.  Personal and financial issues will always be there separately, or, if you're really down on your luck, simultaneously.  The acceptance of this fact is something that we need to embrace otherwise it will be a life of misery.   

Just recently I've had a couple of individuals talk to me about their desire to be promoted.  Promotion is a reward tool for a company to bestow upon high performing individuals.  It is merit based and justified by quantitative measurement (at least that is what we were told it to be).  Fortunate are those who got promoted due to allegiance alone; but beware: people will see you for what's your worth and you will not get the respect needed to lead.  Well, I would like to believe that people get promoted due to merit so let's just leave it at that.

As Vince Lombardi would say, "The only place where SUCCESS comes before WORK is in the dictionary."  Bottomline is that work needs to be done and then some.  Actually, the real question is "What  value do I give to the company?"  However, to expect a promotion is counter productive.  It corrodes moral and deteriorates your work.  My suggestion is JUST DO YOUR JOB WELL, PROVIDE VALUE TO YOUR WORK, FEEL LIKE YOU ARE BUILDING A CASTLE(not just a brick layer), and PRAY.  God will give this to you in due time. 

Good things come to those who wait.

God's Counsel

I firmly believe that I am where I am today because God guided me there.

All the major decisions in my life I have asked God's counsel and as far as I'm concerned He has led me to a path that gave me the opportunity to grow and provide for my family's basic needs (a man's got to eat, right?).

I say opportunity because God did not give it to me on a silver platter. I had gone through a lot of hardships to get to where I am now. "Nasa Diyos ang awa, nasa tao ang gawa." Well, God found merit in my hard work and it did not come overnight. I'm talking about blood, sweat and tears hear brotha! It was a test of faith and persistence.

Anyway, I have come to realize that God does not answer immediately. He bids His time and, well, He's actually got the whole time in the world, right? So I learned to be patient---VERY PATIENT. After all, I am not God's only child. So, I take my place in a very long queue and wait my turn.

As I've mentioned in my previous blog that you need to be attuned to God's signs. I'm sure I'm not one of the favored ones to whom He speaks to directly and He can't be burning bushes in this day and age. Me, I just pray and pray and pray and pray some more until He manifests His wisdom in some form or another.

This morning I had a dream. It's kind of incomprehensible at best. Maybe God realized that I'm really not that intelligent so when I took to the john and reading my book, a quotation struck me. Really? Well, let's see how this pans out...