Leadership Turn

The greatest leadership WOW ever told

by Miki Saxon on February 26th, 2008

Finding and identifying WOW in anything is exciting, fun and always a two-edged sword—which is the most useful kind as well as the most dangerous. When the talk turns to leadership WOW, the adjectives that you hear most frequently these days are “authentic,” meaning real or genuine, and “servant” meaning it’s all about them—as opposed to you.

And while those should be the WOW, they’re upstaged every time by what I call the believability factor, BF for short.

WOW—for better or worse—is found in believability.

The better is obvious. A strong BF draws people to you; it helps them hear what you have to say; see the vision that you present; and underscores their willingness to follow your lead. Without it, even the straightest shooters may be casually dismissed.

The flip side is definitely worse, because con people, crooks and even murderers often have BF in abundance.

For that reason, followers as well as other leaders need to look first for BF, because without it nothing will happen, and then beyond it to be sure that it’s grounded in values that are at least synergistic to their own.

Values are subjective and are part of your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophy™). To assume that another person’s values are parallel to your own because you like them, work with/for them, even go to church with them, is naïve—but people do it all the time.

Choosing whom to follow is a responsibility not to be taken lightly or handed off to others. Sure, your choices won’t always be correct, but you will be able to say that you made the best decision possible based on who you were and what you knew at that time—which is the most we can expect of ourselves.

If you’d like to learn more about how to evaluate your own BF and change it if you so desire, read MAP your BF—at work, at home, even in the bedroom!

 Want more WOW factors? Visit Common Sense PR for links to all the WOW today on the Business Channel.

How do you assess BF in those around you?

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POSTED IN: About leadership, Business Channel Theme Days, Followers, Management