To become a great leader, you need to know that you’re in a leadership role. But that’s just the first step. The next step involves maintaining your employees’ respect. Without that, you may be the boss, but your leadership role will be short-lived. Sometimes leadership is merely letting people do their jobs. Willie Shoemaker, one of the best jockeys of all time, said that he kept the lightest touch on the horse’s reins: “The horse never knows I’m there until he needs me.” Management consultant Garry Jenkins puts it more bluntly: “The leader’s role is to create a vision, not [...]

A lot of people fantasize about their wildest dreams, about possibility. Some people don't really know how to dream as their imagination has been stifled by the subconscious conditioning of their environment (how they were raised, their job, their experiences). The vast majority of dreamers do just that, and nothing else. They never do a damn thing about planning and taking action to make their dreams become reality. Why? Because they don't think there's even a remote chance in hell their dreams could ever become reality. They gave up before they fantasized in the first place! They will forever be [...]

Visionary leadership can be a very challenging road to travel. The visionary leader is consistently seeking to identify a better way to provide a better opportunity for his workplace. He is smart enough to realize that he is not the smartest mind in the room. In his evaluation of the surrounding practices that exists within his workplace, he realizes that the smartest mind, is the collective mind of the entire team. Through his ability to see the best in those that struggle through change, growth and development, he brings challenge to his environment. Being a visionary leader is not always [...]