The 12 Essentials of Personal Excellence are BUILT TO LEAD’s framework for becoming a master of the art of living. That, right there, is the first thing that makes us weird.
For the would-be authentic leader, the first thing to know about leadership is that it is a state of being more than the act of doing.
Why is this important to know? Simple. The reason is potentially huge. Are you ready? Really? Okay:
It’s because you can’t give what you ain’t got.
That’s why we always start a client engagement by helping them build a strong CORE–the self understanding and clarity about who they are, why they’re here, where they’re going, what’s in it for others, and how they chose to live and work. Without the inspiration and direction and attraction that come from a leader KNOWING the answers to those questions, followers have a habit of staying away. After all, would you follow YOU if you didn’t know who you were, where you were headed, or why?
So, a strong CORE is the starting point; the first of The 12 Essentials of Personal Excellence. What comes next? What’s up with the other 11?
After the CORE, what are leaders supposed to do, actually? Why do we have leaders in the first place? What is it that they have that we don’t but need? What is it that they actually GIVE us?
A good place to continue, after the CORE, is with two characteristics that separate true leaders from the rest of the pack; that are the very definition of what “leading” actually IS. In my opinion, these two are the essence of what it means to lead. They are action characteristics, AND both of them are made possible by two essential states of being. I guess some essentials are more essential than others. “They just are.”
1.) Foresight; seeing farther ahead than anyone else and going ahead to show the way, and
2.) Decisiveness; making tough calls with incomplete information.
Foresight requires humility. Yes, humility, meaning the deep understanding that you yourself don’t understand, along with the humble curiosity and desire to come to understand any given situation. The proud have difficulty admitting ignorance and allowing others to know they temporarily lack the “right” answer.
Decisiveness rests on courage. Yes, courage, meaning the willingness to accept the loneliness and risk, often dire, of selecting one course of action from a range of plausible alternatives, and moving forward. Deciding is always accomplished alone. Others may be with the leader, and have advised the leader, but only the leader decides. Accountability means accepting the fact that an account will be made of the correctness of YOUR decision, no matter what, and being okay with that. That, my friends, is courage.
Those twin towers form the next two chapters of The Essentials of Excellence after the CORE. There’s a reason for that. Combining courage and humility with a strong CORE is a system in that all three are interrelated and necessary for the other two. The presence of a strong CORE sets the table for both courage and humility to emerge and be built. (Courage and Core come from the same Latin/French root word for “heart”).
So, all this is very interesting and academic. Is it practical?
Can you give what you don’t have?
What do you think?
BUILT TO LEAD 