A Leader's Legacy Part 3

Part 3 of A Leader’s Legacy, deals with aspirations.  It gets in detail the goals of leaders and how to accomplish those goals. Chapter 11 brings up Leading from the inside out. To be honest, at first I wasn’t sure what that meant. I was always told not to let your heart get in the way of positive decision making, but then after more reading I realized exactly what it meant. It was about finding yourself, your morals and passion. Before becoming a leader, one must find it within themselves why they want this position, or how important this means to them. For example, in a sorority we have many leaders. These are the people we count on as sisters to make sure our chapter runs effectively and smoothly. With that being said, the most desirable leader is one that is passionate about what they are leading. A genuine leader must find that excitement within themselves first in order to let that enthusiasm set free for the followers to see. Once they see how hard and dedicated you are as a leader in what the team is trying to accomplish, it will make them motivated as well. One man who described his new found realization was Mike Sullivan who said, “I realized that passion inspires me to lead and that I will need to make manifest in my work those things I am passionate about in order to want to lead and to emotive and empathetic with my constituents.”

Forward-looking is a leadership prerequisite is the title of the next chapter. It discusses the importance of leaders looking to benefit the future of their work or organization now. One statement that I love was, “They are the custodians of the future, and it’s their job to make sure that they leave their organization in better shape than they found it.” Nobody and definitely no group is perfect. They can have good times, but everything can evolve to get better. This concept, I feel, is important because even if it’s your first year or your last, it is vital to improve your followers to make the best results. However, one person cannot do it alone. They need support from various people in order to make the needed changes and achievements. This leads into chapter 13; it’s not just the leader’s vision. Being the leader means all eyes and decisions are on you. This job can become very stressful if you don’t have the right team behind you. Also, one person doesn’t know the answer to everything. By having support, these people can help brainstorm different ideas to go about situations. Leaders are like a coach. They make plays and motivate others but they don’t know what it’s like on the field. Sometimes having a player give a suggested play could be beneficial because they know what’s going on first hand. Not only is the coach being relied on for a victory. Everyone has a leader within them that needs to shine. Leaders are followers too.