Do you have the right to lead? When we think about people and leadership, we generally picture someone in a particular position with a big company or someone who has a title that indicates that they are a leader. We even consider people that we elect or get appointed to public office as leaders, but do these things really give someone the right to lead?

I don't believe that positions, titles, appointments or even elections give anyone the right to lead. The right to lead has to be earned by you making yourself the kind of person that people want to follow. You have to be someone that they can trust to take them to where they want to go. You don't have to have a title to be a leader but you do have to be someone who can effectively influence change through your interaction with people.

Becoming a good follower is the first step to becoming an effective leader. By learning how to follow first you will be able to determine what it is about the people that are leading you or that you choose to follow that makes you want to follow them. That's why graduates of Military Academies have been some of the most effective and greatest leaders in history. Acquiring this knowledge and applying it to yourself and your character will help you to become a leader that people will want to follow or the leader that people are looking for.

Building strong relationships with people is essential to you earning the right to lead. You can not afford to just let relationships happen. You have to work at building those positive relationships and you must be willing to take 100% responsibility for the development of those relationships. You have to want to do what is necessary to form and maintain quality relationships with the people you interact with. I once heard someone say that people won't necessarily remember what it was that you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel. Keep in mind that as a leader you will affect the feelings in a lot of people and that you are 100% responsible for the feelings you instill in others and how they feel about you.

Desiring to become a leader brings with it the demand for excellence. Respect is given to people that work with excellence, people will not follow or respect anyone who works at mediocre levels. Leaders put everything they have into what they do, their skills their talents their personality and character. They work hard with great passion always performing at their highest levels. Not because they have to but rather that is what they choose to do.

Staying focused and engaged is a must as a leader. Being a leader can be easy and fun during good times. It is when times get tough and everything seems to be against you that you really earn your place as a leader. Having the discipline to stay engaged and focused on the task at hand during these times will enable you to keep moving forward when your tired and it would be easier just to give up, discipline will be the key to getting you through those tough times.

Your number one goal as a leader should be to add value to those that you interact with or whose lives you may have an affect on in some way. Helping people to become more valuable to themselves, to live better lives and to reach their potential is the highest value you can offer to the world as a leader. The leaders that have been successful in the accomplishment of this goal have been and will continue to be remembered long after they have retired from their leading years.

Being the best leader that you can be will require that you share whatever power you might have. Empowering others will actually help you become a better leader. Using your power to empower others will extend your influence and leadership beyond measure. A great leader influences multitudes of people. Empowering others will facilitate the extension of your leadership and expand your ability to create strong feelings in people that they will long remember.

The truly great leaders lead to serve other people. They are not in leadership for personal gain but rather to help other people to get the things out of life that they want. Ironically the law of success is service, we get what we give, and for this reason we should consider it a great privilege to be able to give. As Zig Ziglar has so profoundly stated " You can get anything out of life that you want if you will help enough people get what they want." These are the reasons why it is impossible to be a great leader and not be compensated in equal value for the value that you give. It is a natural law of the universe.

Now you have the formula for leadership success, so go out there and become the leader that people are looking for.

Great success to you and God bless!