Leadership Nuggets

It seems that the times now have made the Filipinos more critical about the country's leadership. With frustrations of the past now merging with the desire and hope for change in the near future, the people are not only more aware about leadership issues, they have adopted strong positions on leadership itself.

For ten days (not consecutive), I posted in my Facebook status what my thoughts are on leadership. These leadership nuggets are all borne from my personal beliefs and experience, although some were derived from lessons I learned from mentors, books and other leaders.

As part of my reflection and hopefully, my own development as someone in a leadership position, I intend to come up with 30 leadership nuggets. That's one a day, which may serve as a daily reminder on how a leader should conduct himself.

The reactions on comments to posts I made in the past several days serve as confirmation to the relevance of the nuggets I came up with. I also received a couple of requests for me to post a compilation for their better appreciation. So here it is:

The first 10 Leadership Nuggets:

1. Leadership is not about claiming credit for what went right but accepting responsibility for what went wrong.

2. Good leaders lead with open ears, not with closed fists.

3. Leadership is not the exercise of power over the people but the endeavor to empower the people.

4. More than giving orders and direction, it is the function of leadership to inspire and motivate.

5. The best legacy a leader can leave behind is not the string of accomplishments he has but an army of leaders he has raised to take over when he’s gone. 

6. The ability to lead goes hand in hand with the willingness to learn. One cannot be a good leader if one is not willing to learn even from those one leads.

7. Leaders should be masters over their own faults and weaknesses, not over their followers.

8. The first thing a leader should realize upon assuming leadership is that the position is temporary.

9. Leadership and pride are a dangerous combination. When a leader believes that he is the only key to success, he actually becomes the cause of failure.

10. In the exercise of power, an intelligent leader knows when to start and a determined leader keeps on going; but a wise leader knows when to stop.