Thursday, December 6, 2007

Leadership Abilities of Consultants

I don't normally do this, but I thought I would share the President's Message I wrote in the most recent membership newsletter for TVCNet. Usually my words in the newsletter are reserved for the members only, but I think the message was very relevant for the blog.
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It’s been a few weeks since our last TVCNet meeting where Kim Lewis of Leadership in Motion spoke about leadership. In that time I’ve had much to think about.

Kim’s presentation gave me a whole new perspective on leadership. I used to think you had to be a person in authority to be a leader, but that’s quite the contrary. Anybody can be a leader to the people they come in contact with on a daily basis. The key is to be a positive influence in your interactions with them.

Of the many things I had to think, the one thing that stood forefront in my mind was how I am being a leader – to the members of TVCNet, in my own business, in the community, even with my family. Kim taught us that good leaders work toward connecting with others at all times. They do this in the following ways:

  • Communicate with openness and sincerity.
  • Knowing their audience.
  • Living their message.
  • Going where their audience is.
  • Focusing on their audience, not themselves.
  • Believing in their audience.

Out of the above listed, I feel I am only meeting half of those criteria (communicating, focusing on the audience and believing in the audience). After some personal reflection, I know I need to work on the others.
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It may seem I'm beating myself up on my leadership abilities, but the reality is when it comes to being a leader you have take a look in the mirror once in a while. If you can honestly answer "yes" to the above listed criteria you can be confident in your leadership abilities as a consultant.

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