I was speaking with a great MindStore member yesterday. He indeed is one of Channel 4’s “Secret Millionaires”. He was mentioning the horrific scenes out there in Haiti and how society can so quickly break down and what we would all probably end up doing to survive in similar circumstances. It’s not pleasant to look at, I find myself wanting to look away or turn off the news, it’s so disturbing. He mentioned too, how many of his friends, business leaders, entrepreneurs and others from his international networks are really struggling with the impact of the global crisis. He said how they had to remind themselves of what they were doing 15 years ago, going back to basics and having to dig deep and find core skills and the passions that drove them back then to stabilise their businesses and almost begin all over again. It seems we genuinely need extraordinary leadership at this time, in Haiti definitely, in our global leadership probably, and no doubt where you work and live too. In the UK of course we will have a general election this year where leadership will surely play its part in deciding who wins.
Leadership is critical to human survival, never mind growth and development. If we can’t find it in others then surely we can find it in ourselves. In our Leadership Development programme we begin by asking participants to work at remembering where, when and how they have witnessed extraordinary leadership before. We encourage them to share stories and begin to filter the characteristics of outstanding examples. It leads to agreement, buy in, and commitment to strive for the same in their own environment. With the first month of the new decade coming to an end maybe you to need to find your leader within.