Pocket Full of Leadership

I put this on wallet cards to serve as refreshers to folks that have heard this speech.

12 Treasured Beliefs about Leadership and Success
1-Leadership is the most valuable commodity in the world. It’s light. Carry it with you. 2-Define your success. If you don’t define success, your future becomes a random result. Choosing the right behaviors is the key to success. 3-To lead others, you need to be able to lead yourself first. Be daring, willful and persistent. 4-Encourage your people to define their success. People do what they do because they want what they want. To get them to do what you need, figure out how to help them get what they want. Emphasize performance and achievement. 5-Who You Are is Not Static. Do not be satisfied with who you are. Don’t be discouraged or intimidated by who you are not. Be optimistic and ambitious about whom you will become. 6-If you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing it right. Choose worthy goals and take pleasure in achieving them. Be happy along the way. 7-Make decisions and then act. Leadership is separating what needs to be done from what doesn’t and then taking action. Great leadership is choosing to do the impossible and then achieving it. 8-Know what your job is and know your job. Focus on leading, innovating, and organizing. Be intellectually strong, smart, and nimble. Don’t focus on filling squares to get promoted. 9-Live each day in a heroic manner. Prepare for each day as if you knew it would contain your finest hour. Be alert – and be prepared. 10-Ya gotta love the troops! They don’t care what you know if they don’t know that you care. If they know you care, they’ll trust you. 11-The road to glory is service and sacrifice. This is a serious business and it requires serious people to do it. Do not shirk or shrink away from tough duty. Wade into it fearlessly! Life is not fair. Get over it and get the mission done. 12-Leadership is attitude as much as anything else. Positive leaders are almost always more effective than negative leaders. Pro-active leaders are almost more effective than reactive leaders. When things are tough, keep a great attitude. It generates enthusiasm and attracts followers. Enthusiastic people will tirelessly look for solutions to problems long after discouraged people surrender.
© 2005 Michael A. Breeden, CMSgt, USAF

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