The basis of being a leader

I think this is a world which should have an overpopulation of leaders. There are a few reasons for that.

If you consider leadership a competence, its formula is very easy:

• Knowledge. There is plenty of knowledge on leadership, thousands and probably millions of books and an infinite number of articles on this topic, in most languages. There are courses in colleges and universities all over the world too.
• Skills. Apart from that, there are probably millions of consultants or training schools who can help leaders to develop certain skills for a better leadership.
• Attitude. With all courses and people talking about leadership, I feel it is not difficult to develop a leadership attitude, although that, as it is a little subtle, would require more effort.

Of course, that is problem the question of the century: What is leadership? Not in the sense of definition, but it is more like "where does it come from?". A friend of mine says there is no leadership; what we have is leaders (I particularly do not believe in that, but it is an idea...).

Ideas are coming and coming, but still leadership, from many different points of view, is easy and it is getting even easier. But then, why our wold is in such a situation? Because it does not matter what line of thinking you follow, a leader will always emerge at times of crisis. And, well, I guess this is not happening... At least not in a way to really overcome crises...

As a thinker, I feel that what is missing is self-leadership. You can find many articles in this blog itself on that, and thousands more in other places. The basic reason: you can't lead if you are unable to lead yourself!

So, what we have is not really a lack of leadership, or leaders, but a lack of self-leadership and leaders of the self.

Taking the same formula and understanding self-leadership as a competence, we have:

• Wisdom. Knowledge is good, but to be a leader of the self, that knowledge has to transcend and turn into wisdom. It is difficult to teach that in universities, but it is easy to assimilate that from reflection, contemplation or meditation.
• Powers and virtues. Skills are used to put leadership into practice. For self-leadership, you need more than skills. Spiritual power is an energy the being has that helps the self to overcome situations (check my post on 8 attitudes). Virtue is that energy that enable the being to live in the world adapting to all situations that come. Both could be called attitudes.
• Awareness. Leadership of the self is only possible if the leader's awareness is awaken. Most of the time, we are not aware of what is going on around us; it is only when that is interesting or it requires more from the senses, that you become aware of its reality (for instance, the sound of air-conditioning system or the traffic in front of your office). To be a leader of the self, for that you do need to awake the deep hidden awareness of who am I, where am I going to, what am I doing here and many of the traditional questions on self-existence.

So... you see, it is not that difficult!

Is it? I will help you with more and more posts on this topic. I can help you personally with examples of my own life and, most important, I am sure YOU CAN HELP me and others with your own example!