These words may seem harsh to you, but they snapped her out of her journey of tearing down success, and she now is a star employee/partner in my company. This scenario happens every minute of every day, and a real leader recognizes that people can go either way and watches and waits to see those who will not snap out of that destructive state and weeds them out. After a while, you can simply flick them off of your shoulder like a bug. However, every once in a while a person will come along who may even be well-meaning at first, but will eventually try to pull you and your whole company down into their trap.
They can be the most useful people in the world. They will do everything for you in the name of respect and for the cause. They subtly make sure you know how much they do, and cast a tiny shadow of doubt on your other staff, especially your finest, most loyal associates or family members. Sometimes they don’t even know what they are doing, compelled to undermine while looking like they are the most important, always there and willing! They are always some sort of expert in something, which is their greatest tool. I call this their separation tool which they use with pinpoint accuracy like a sword. They gradually bring down the morale of a business and even families because they are not real leaders. Trust me, I have experience with these types of people—they are so good at what they do, you want to adopt them and put them in your will. I almost lost my entire company to one of these people, but it ended up being the best awakening I have ever had.
A real leader is the perfect equalizer. Their strength is in their purpose, which is not their own. They are not always aware of why they move in a certain direction, but rarely even question, because a great leader has great faith. A real leader helps liberate a searching person from their fears and conditioning, and raises them up out of their box to see for brief moments the freedom and opportunities that real leaders see! These brief opportunities to see life lit up is all it takes for the true leader to help others out of their tangled mess. There are some that will never be blessed with vision and ideas; their job is to simply tear down morale and to complicate life for everyone.
A real leader simplifies the complicated and finds a solution for every problem, because it is their greatest joy to see what most people miss and to show them the simplicity of the solution. Many people miss the solution because they are about themselves and not the cause. A real leader never puts off until tomorrow what they know they need to do today! They move things off of their desk and conclude their tasks with ease. Most people love to work with a true leader because they feel life moves at a healthy rate, and they are inspired to dig a little deeper within themselves. A pretend leader will never understand a real leader.
I have seen that people who pretend to be leaders are somewhat like a block of cement tied to your foot. Life does not move the way it should, and there is always a lot of waiting for non-leaders to direct, whereas a real leader knows how to delegate tasks, inspiring people to not only trust in themselves, but also to have an understanding of what real trust is. You will never know what a person is made of until you trust them at least once, and maybe a few hundred more times.
A real leader does not hold back people from their potential; they see a person’s options allowing each person to see their own potential. A real leader is not always aware of their leadership qualities, but they are always aware of their effect on both good and bad people and do not use their strength to hurt or destroy a person, (people do that to themselves.) A real leader leads and does not trip people up. A real leader is born a real leader, and no matter what you do, you cannot stop them in their mission!
Dianne Linderman can be heard on Talk Radio Network on her 2 hour live syndicated national radio show- “Everything That Matters.” Visit her online shopping cart.
