is love, sweet love…  so the song goes.

But I contend that in the current economic situation, what we really need are leaders, great leaders.

Picture by Lumaxart

No matter what your political leaning, be it left, right or smack bang in the middle.  No matter what your faith, Christian, Islam, Hindu, Atheist or any of the myriad of faiths.  No matter what your ethnicity, what your colour, what your country of origin.  No matter whether you’re crazy rich or homeless.  No matter your employment situation or your marital status or your sexual preference.  What you, and the rest of the world needs, are great leaders to chart the course through these difficult times.

We need these leaders at every level of society.  From the leaders of our countries, through the leaders of our businesses and schools and religions and churches and clubs right down to the leaders of our families.

These great leaders will have different agendas and success for them and the people they lead will look different but there are some aspects that all these leaders will have.

1.  Great Leaders Are Trustworthy

Before anything else, leaders who can’t be trusted can never be great leaders.

The current economic crisis has little or nothing to do with good and bad business decisions and everything to do with ethics and trust and greed.

2.  Great Leaders Have A Vision Of A Better Future

This is important and not always understood.  The reason I say that is because all leaders would say they have it but I don’t think many realise the importance of the word “better”.  All to often the future they aspire to is simply more of the same, or even, “The best we can expect”.

Not good enough I say.  The Salvation Army in New Zealand has a stated goal of “The eradication of poverty in New Zealand, Fiji and Tonga”.  Now that’s what I call a vision for the future.

3.  Great Leaders Know How To Get There

Many people can dream great dreams that do include a vision of a better future but it takes a great leader to know how to get there.

Great leaders take advice, they listen, they’re creative and most especially, they’re highly intuitive.  They know how they’re going to take people towards this mighty vision, they communicate excellently and people follow enthusiastically.

4.  Great Leaders Grow Great Leaders

No matter what the size of the team you’re leading, whether it’s a whole nation or a family unit, great leaders invest their time growing great leaders.  If they don’t, they’ll only ever have a small impact because they’ll only reach those they can actually relate to.

5.  Great Leaders Serve Those They Lead

This doesn’t mean that great leaders make the coffee and clean up (although sometimes it may be right to do so).  What this means is that their reason for leading is not about power for themselves but about empowering those they lead.

A servant leader’s motivation should be to lead because he or she is the best person to to lead a group to achieve that grand vision – a vision that is about making the world, in some way, a better place.

6.  Great Leaders Know That People Matter Most

When leaders say, “Our people are our most important resource” yet the staff scoff at the statement, you simply don’t have a great leader.  That’s not to say that nobody ever gets fired or laid off.  But if a leader hasn’t done everything in their power to avoid this, without adversely affecting the achievement of a “better future” vision, and if the leader doesn’t feel their pain, then you have a problem.

Great Generals send their troops into battle knowing that some will not return.  Sometimes there is such a thing as a greater good – But it should never be an easy decision to make!

7.  Great Leaders Seek Peace

Where possible great leaders will seek the win/win situations.  Sometimes this can’t happen because trustworthy leaders must not compromise their ethics.  But in general what we need in this world is less conflict, not more…  

…

…

Oh… and some love, sweet love would certainly help too!

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