11 Major Attributes of Leadership

Defeat is only temporary, and temporary defeat should mean only one thing. There is something wrong with your plan. Build other plans. Start all over again. Only this time, do it right. Choose your leader and follow him! ~ Napoleon Hill

Hill tells us most great leaders began as followers. INTELLIGENT followers. They became great leaders by following in the footsteps of their leaders, not just by gaining endless knowledge about how they do it.

I have spent three years of watching and following my own mentor, Michael Dlouhy. Here are my observations about the eleven major attributes of leadership, as outlined by Napoleon Hill.

THE MAJOR ATTRIBUTES OF LEADERSHIP

1. UNWAVERING COURAGE

Don’t be afraid to call it like you see it, even when it means losing a friend. Real love means speaking the truth when the person needs to hear it, and not letting fear of hurting the person temporarily stop you from doing what that person needs.

2. SELF-CONTROL

My mentor is a Blue personality type, but he doesn’t let his spontaneity and desire for fun cloud his sense of responsibility when someone needs him. He sees the big picture right away, but curbs his desire to blurt out the solution, choosing instead to help the person to discover it for himself.

3. A KEEN SENSE OF JUSTICE

Be open and above board in what you do. Purpose never to do anything that will hurt someone else or hold him back.

4. DEFINITENESS OF DECISION

Slow down the negative and useless chatter in your mind, so you have the clarity you need to make decisions swiftly and definitely. Act on those decisions immediately.

5. DEFINITENESS OF PLANS

Keep your goals clearly in mind, and make definite, measurable plans for achieving those goals. Put a time frame on it, and work within that framework.

6. THE HABIT OF DOING MORE THAN PAID FOR

Go the second mile–and the third and the fourth!–for your prospects and team members. If they are coachable, do everything you can to help them reach their goals.

7. A PLEASING PERSONALITY

Understand the personality colors so you can speak the language of your prospects and work well with members of your team. Learn to be a chameleon, adapting yourself to the person you are speaking with at this moment. Talk to people and respond to them in they way they will best understand, never letting your own primary personality colour overwhelm them or get in the way.

8. SYMPATHY AND UNDERSTANDING

Never allow others to suck you into their drama. Truly listen to them, but remember that true sympathy and understanding means throwing cold water on someone occasionally so he is shocked into seeing the lifesaver he needs to grab, to pull himself out of the muck and mire.

9. MASTERY OF DETAIL

Provide a simple, duplicatible system your team members can plug into, to help them build their business. Detailed enough to cover all the bases, but easy to learn and implement. Know the system well, and be able to guide your team members and point them to where they can find their own answers to problems.

10. WILLINGNESS TO ASSUME FULL RESPONSIBILITY

A person’s success or failure is not dependent on you. It is inside of him. Where he is today is a direct result of choices he has made along the way. Know that! At the same time, you want to do everything you can to teach your team members how to think critically, and how to make responsible decisions so they will succeed.

11. COOPERATION

Never let people feel like you are ‘way up there looking down on them from some lofty height. Come alongside them, get down in the trenches with them, and work with them like team members.

That’s what I aiming for in EVERY area of my life, not just in network marketing. And above all else I will remember:

A QUITTER NEVER WINS AND A WINNER NEVER QUITS!