The Person Not the Job
There is no future in any job or single product. The future lies in the person who holds the job or sells the product. This steadfast principal is a cornerstone of Personal Branding. Given a similar product or opportunity by two individuals, who do you buy from? You buy from the person who has offered the most value to you. The person who has answered your questions. The person went beyond the simple answers. The person who made themselves available to you. The person who appears to be a leader. Did you read that last sentence? “The person who appears to be a leader.”

Leadership Attracts
People are attracted to leadership. You may have some leadership within your own organization and not even realize it. In fact they may not either. I’m talking about distributors and affiliate marketers, whether it be an MLM or you selling your own product. I’m reminded of a story about Michelangelo. He was asked one day about one of his masterpiece called “David”. He said that the statue had always existed in the stone and he just had to chisel away the rock on the outside. As a leader, you need like Michelangelo. You need to look for your own masterpieces in the people you recruit and people who are already in your organization. Think of this way. When someone discovers gold, it is usually a flake or two or maybe a small nugget. The huge lode is not just laying on the surface of the ground. It is discovered only after digging below the ground where the flakes or nuggets where found. The same is true of individuals.

Qualities and Traits
So what qualities and traits should you look for in your potential leader?

Positiveness occurs while having to work with and see people and situations in a positive way. This only seem natural in that people usually don’t like to hear about doom and gloom all the time. There are enough avenues for this via the daily news.

Servanthood is an ability and willingness to submit, be part of a team, and follow the leader. There is an old saying about paying your dues, whether it be politics, sports, or learning online marketing. If you want to succeed, at some time you are going to have to follow a mentor. A potential leader, by paying their dues, will be in a position to eventually mentor others just as they were.

Growth potential exists when someone is hungry for personal growth and development. They will always be willing to learn more as their role gets bigger.

Follow-through is the guts and determination to get the job done completely and with consistency. This is a hard one for me because we’ve been conditioned to always do something “good enough”. I’m getting better but it’s something we all have to work on.

Loyalty is the willingness to always put the leader and the organization above personal desires.

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back on your feet if you are knocked down. I like the analogy of pulling yourself up by your own boot straps.

Integrity means walking the talk in your trustworthiness and your character. If there was only one characteristic here that I had to choose from, integrity would be it. Solid character may not always be as readily visible as some of the others, but when you see it and recognize it, it stands out above the rest. People are attracted to this tremendously.

Big Picture thinking allows one to see and understand the whole structure and organization and all of it’s need.

Discipline occurs when someone is willing to do what is required to achieve a goal regardless of their personal mood.

I’ll finish up with gratitude. This is one here that has some psychology behind it. At least to me. Most people when complimented say, “Awe, it’s nothing.”. What they are doing in reality is diminishing their effort. After years and years of doing this they are programming themselves to expect less of themselves. A firm and gracious “Thank You” will not only promote your self talk but also instill a sense of connectedness with the person who originally complimented them.

Questions:
So these traits and characteristics are paramount in both recognizing and growing leadership within your organization.

Do you have some I didn’t list?
What are your experiences with them?
Do you have any examples that further demonstrate these characteristics or that you’ve observed?

If you found value in this post please comment below and click the retweet button if you haven’t already. I would be most gracious if you would.

Be Like Mich!

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