Life becomes a challenging wonderful game - Reason 12

Have you ever been to a game and felt horrible because your team or country was not winning?  And yet, after that, you probably went to ‘celebrate’ anyway, even though it was in a bad mood... 

Just like the people who celebrated victory, your team’s defeat turned into a subject to talk about with friends, so it became a means for enjoying a relationship with others.  Eventually, you forget the loss and start to hope for victory next time.

That is the magic of games: even though you lose, you are still a winner inside.  The reason is the effect games have on people: they enjoy them, but also want to win.  Enjoyment and competition coexist, which allows you to see the loss as something small, something that will make you laugh at some point.

For leaders, life is THE game, and so being a leader is to be enjoying and competing all the time.

(Excerpt from the book 82 Reasons to be a Leader)

Tolerance means to give others the best of you - Reason 11

We do live in times of tolerance…  Or rather you could say, in times where there is an increasing need for tolerance.

Reason is simple: we live in a period of growing diversity and, as a society, we are not that ready for it.  Diversity makes people feel insecure, as they tend to label others and protect themselves and those who are equal to them, and it is that insecurity that makes intolerance grow.

Normal people bear with what happens to them; they cope with other people’s ways of being or just go out and sue them.  A leader … well, leaders are different, because their perspective is unique and may be summarised in one word and that is service.

Meister Eckhart said something related to the capacity a leader has to tolerate: Do exactly what you would do if you felt most secure.[1]  It is this deep sense of security a leader has imbibed that enables him or her to deal with situations with a broad mind and perspective.

As a leader, you are able to look at others in a way that sees their highest potential, abilities, and which gives them hope and encourages them, for tolerance is in fact not only to accept others, but to give them the best from your heart.

Maybe you have heard that the best image for tolerance is a tree laden with fruit, which gives away irrespective of people throwing up stones in order for the fruit to fall.  By giving your fruits as a leader, then over time others will become content, and will eventually end any attacks as you have left a beautiful impression on their hearts.

(Excerpt from the book 82 Reasons to be a Leader)

---

[1] Meister Eckhart (c.1260 – c.1328) was a German philosopher and theologian.  You can find the whole quote in this page: http://www.quoteland.com/author/Meister-Eckhart-Quotes/1273/

Values are not just words, they are actions! - Reason 10

Most people use values just as nice words.  It is good to say I am humble, I am gentle, and I am kind; however, by just saying it, there is no impact as they could.

Values are a part of the self, a direct connection with the spiritual core within all of us.  If actions are disconnected to the value, they are not coming from that genuine core; by aligning actions with values, particularly those that accompany a leader in her or his journey towards the future, life recovers its true meaning.

For a leader, values are much more than words and they are present at every step, giving a reason for everything he or she is doing.

(Excerpt from the book 82 Reasons to be a Leader)

Pressure is easy to handle - Reason 9

Pressure is increasing, coming from all sides: work, family, mind, desires, aims, co-workers, bosses, community, news, social network, etc.  And it looks scarier day by day with clear consequences to the mental and physical health.

Leadership helps to understand the pressures and create a sustainable strategy to face them instead of avoiding or running away from them.

The fundamental power a leader has is that she or he has chosen everything they live, no matter if they are roses or thorns.  When a leader is living through a rosy period, he or she just enjoy life and that is the time to relax and plan for the future; when the period is thorny, then all that energy a leader has may be used to help her or him to win over and go through any obstacle.

That means you as a leader know the apparent causes for pressure and you can deal with them.  Not only that, but stress won’t come to you while you are managing that burden, or at least, you will be able to manage it and keep it at low levels.

Do you know the reason? Any situation that creates pressure is a game for a leader and a play with many actors and roles.

(Excerpt from the book 82 Reasons to be a Leader)