Top 5 Essential Leadership Skills

Another trip to the Super Bowl! Five out of the last seven years the New England Patriots have made there way to the event that marks the pinnacle of achievement in their industry.

All this victory has almost become boring. I said almost. It feels good to win. It feels good to be able to affiliate yourself with success. The beauty of being a fan is that you get to enjoy vicarious success when your team is on top and enjoy the equal benefit of being insulated from the personal pain of failure when things don't go so well. Sure, you may empathize with the disappointment of the object of your admiration but you don't need to sympathize - although some folks do. Fan is short for fanatic, after all.

So how have the Patriots done it? You could say it's the extraordinary athletic talent of the players but every year the team is comprised of a different bunch of guys. So it's not just the talent.

On January 27, 2000 Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, hired Bill Belichick as head coach and it's been uphill ever since. The following year the Pats won the Super Bowl. In this unprecedented run of success, the common denominator has been this coach. The more stats you read about this man, the more apparent and impressive become his leadership abilities. I suspect he'd humbly refuse all the credit but I think it is quite fair to declare leadership as the greatest secret weapon of the New England Patriots.

The unfortunate truth is that the number of people in leadership roles is far greater than those with the skills of leadership. While there are many qualities and characteristics of leadership, here are a few of the most essential.

1. Vision - the ability to see the future harvest lying dormant in the seeds of the present.

2. Perseverance - the willingness to nurture those seeds under all conditions - favorable and un- favorable - and not waver from the vision.

3. Relate-ability - the ability to communicate the vision and inspire others to follow.

4. Courage - not an absence of fear but the ability to persevere in spite of it.

5. Service - a heart and attitude of giving. Those you lead will instinctively know who you are serving - them or you. Serve others first and you will always be served.

It is the consistent display of these characteristics that renders success but be careful not to confuse consistency with perfection. They are not synonymous. Consistency takes courage. Perfection is an unattainable ideal and a veil worn by pride to justify procrastination and mediocrity.

You are the leader of your life; of your business. Warning: tough question just ahead. On a daily basis, are you behaving like someone that you would want to follow?

Whatever the Super Bowl equivalent is in your industry, you have the ability to write your own ticket to this event. But it requires a commitment to leadership principles. If you are you ready and willing to make that daily commitment, then I'll see you at the top!

Lisa Almeida is a small business Results Technician and owner of Planit Production. She helps small business owners get from where they are, to where they want to be. If you are in the market for strategies that can deliver the profit you need to get the results you want then visit http://www.AreYouReadyToPlanit.com today. Because success doesn't just happen, you have to planit! Are you ready to planit?

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