Visualize Your Leadership Compass

As Napoleon Hill said: “What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” 

A leader requires character to deal with the stress, uncertainties and the contradictions of conflict; the discipline and training to master the competencies of the profession; and the commitment to follow through and do whatever it takes to be honorable and right. 

Leaders are problem solvers, not necessarily rationalists. When we begin to comprehend our world, the people and organizations in it, we begin to ponder and explore various thoughts, strategies and actions. We transform our attitudes, behaviors, and decisions to reach our potential.

Leaders dedicate themselves and their interests for the betterment of their organization or team through providing vision, inspiration, expertise as well as motivation for collaboration among members; strengthening their personal competencies; promoting a culture of excellence and implementing systems of excellence (i.e., practices). Whatever the organization’s goals may be, its leaders are committed to the vision of becoming world-class in the future.

A leader should work on visualization. Visualization involves the ability to think through the steps to achieve the goal, reject the negative images of failure that spring up into your consciousness, and plan for the challenges that will always arise. The mental energy required to visualize the path and the destination is an important accelerant to success. A leader must be optimistic in working towards the goal of becoming a world-class organization, to keep the goal in sight, and work towards it with optimism and enthusiasm.

At this point in your journey, and if you had followed our previous blogs, you have learned the importance of knowing yourself and of sharpening your purpose. You have also learned about the four key elements of leadership: vision, purpose, talent, and energy. Your purpose is a big difference-maker in your work and personal life. This is the time to use these elements to sharpen your leadership compass, discover your natural leadership potential and how you can become a great leader. 

When you visualize, you create in your mind what you want to achieve, turning the invisible (thought) into the visible (action). Visualizing a model of leadership can help anyone become a better leader and is fundamental to conditioning your mind and heart to react properly, at the speed of thought, to any situation. 

Your leadership compass is a visualization of your leadership

Your GOAL is your objective.

Your PRINCIPLES are the overarching ideals you live by. The here major components of leadership are:

CHARACTER (BE), 

COMPETENCIES (KNOW), AND COMMITMENT (DO). 

Your leadership is at its best when your GOALS align with your Principles and your Compass Arrow.

A leader must trust other people’s judgment when he delegates jobs to them.

A leader must have the courage to work on his or her weaknesses, as well as accept criticism for improvement, for he is accountable for his mistakes. Even so, a leader is characterized by certain values that make him or her strong in character; such as being humble, trustworthy, and reliable. Visualizing a model of leadership can help anyone become a better leader and is fundamental to conditioning your mind and heart.

Leaders that cannot achieve goals do not lead for long. Your goal can be self-designated or assigned by someone else. 

“Your dream determines your goals. Your goals map out your actions. Your actions create results. And the results bring you success.” John Maxwell

In order to be able to lead others effectively, your leadership must be aligned with your goals and those goals are aligned with the rest of your compass. Leaders must first understand what is their goal in order to lead their people. Knowing their goal, principles, character, competencies, and commitment, on an individual basis, will help leaders increase their own productivity as well as team collaboration and cohesion. 

Leadership Principles

Principles help you designate true north, we created a mind map that involves discovering your purpose, values, strengths, goals, and legacy, and guide you on your leadership journey. Knowing your principles is another powerful way to know yourself and to always strive to be yourself. If you align your principles, then this convergence can guide you to be a more consistent and compelling leader.

Here is where “The Law of the Harvest” takes place in your leadership journey. On a farm, you quickly learn that you reap what you sow. If you sow wheat, you may grow wheat, but only if you work hard to water, weed, and nurture your crop. Life is like that. 

In my book “Leadership Rising” I share this principle of life: control the input and you improve the prospect for a positive outcome. The question now is, what are the principles that should guide our leadership? Dr. Stephen Covey cites four principles of the natural law of leadership: security, guidance, wisdom, and power.

• Security: our sense of value, feelings, identity, personal strength, and self-respect.
• Guidance: is your life’s bearing, the direction you take in life.
• Wisdom: is the convergence of knowledge and experience.
• Power: the capacity to decide, act and follow through to accomplish something.

If you understand these four principles, according to Covey, you can transform them into a powerful compass that will keep you on the right path to continue your leadership journey. 

Leadership principles, to be fundamental truth, cannot solely be a list of values, bit must be your guiding rules or code of conduct. Choosing the easier wrong, instead of the harder right. The most important freedom in life is the ability to think and decide for yourself. Your greatest challenge and gift in life is to adopt your own set of principles that can become your “North Star”. 

Reap a Destiny.

If you want to reap a destiny, choose the principles that will guide your actions in life. If you close your eyes, center yourself, and think deeply about the principles that should guide your life, the words will manifest themselves.

Character

“I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

Character keeps actions and words in line with principles. Character is the bedrock of your reputation and the foundation of your leadership. Exemplary character is about being truthful, doing what is right even when it is hard, looking out for the common good, keeping promises, and earning trust. What is your definition of trust?

Competencies

Without actual expertise, can you really know what you are doing? Proficiency matters. Every leadership role has different requirements, but all require competence in leadership and technical skills. How can you enforce standards if you cannot do the work yourself? 

There is no faster way to lose the respect of your team than to be unable to do the job you expect others to perform. 

If you have no idea how to do the work that you direct others to do, you are a failing leader and a hypocrite. Take time to learn. Make a list of the basic skills that you must learn to lead your team. You must be competent if you expect people to follow you. 

Developing your competence will boost your self-confidence, increase your influence and reinforce your credibility. Seeking self-improvement that benefits the group will gain the respect of tour team members. 

Commitment

Commitment is desire and passion dedicated to a cause or activity. The leader’s level of commitment to persevere and secure the goal can inspire others to adopt the same level of dedication. Without commitment, small obstacles appear big and you do not overcome the barriers that block your path.

Abraham Lincoln stated that “commitment is what turns a promise into reality” 

The difference between involvement and commitment

Involved means you are interested, but not fully engaged. You are essentially a “tourist”, not responsible for success or failure. When you are committed, you are the pathfinder, accepting responsibility for success and failure. You are no longer just interested; you are dedicated to accomplishing the mission. 

As a reflection on what we have shared thus far, answer this question for yourself: “Why would anyone follow me? 

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