10 Real Leadership Realities

Not so long ago, I was told a story about a manager who thought he was a leader. This manager had received plenty of education and went as high as he could in his chosen profession but was not a leader. No matter just how much he thought himself  to be a leader, his people skills and leadership skills were severely lacking thus this manager was just that, a manager.

After hearing the complete horror story that it turned out to be I compiled the following 10+ Tips on what Real Leadership is.

1. Real #Leadership means you take the hit when the going gets tough, show your people you got their back.

2. Real #Leadership means you reprimand yourself before you find the lowest person on the totem pole to reprimand/fire. You #leadfromwithin

3. Real #Leadership means you work with your staff to ensure they can become better and not cut them loose at the first sign of trouble.

4.  Real #Leadership means you will work your ass off so that you don't have to chew on anyone else's.

5. Real #Leadership means that you are constantly earning the title of leader. An MBA, Ph.D., M.D., M.Ed. or any other scholarly titled does NOT equal to automatic leader.

6. Real #Leadership means you lead with a heavy hand AND a compassionate heart. However, if all you have is a heavy hand then you are NOT leading.

7. Real #Leadership means you must prove yourself, from scratch, to your followers EVERY day

8. Real #Leadership means that just because someone hands you people to supervise does not mean you are a leader. You have to work your way up to that.

9. Real #Leadership means there will be good days and bad days. Mostly, good days! Do everything to make the bad days better for your followers.

10. Real #Leadership means your success is based solely on the success of EVERYONE you are responsible for, not just those you like.

BONUS: Real #Leadership means you don't care how you look to your supervisor you care how others under your care are looked at by your supervisor.

BONUS #2: Real #Leadership means you will take care of those you supervise and they will take care of you! I promise.

Thank you,
David Guerra

I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @daveguerra • visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

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