Tag Archives: Courage

Faith

Six Reasons Why Faith Is Key to Your Success

Faith has an important role in an authentic leader’s life. George Lancaster Spalding said, “Life without faith in something is too narrow a space to live.” Without faith, trust is a strange word. Having faith helps you move forward by giving you the confidence to take risks and trust the invisible. Here are six reasons why faith is key to your personal and professional success:

 

1. Faith removes doubt.

 

In the same way that darkness and light exist together, doubt and faith are also complementary. Khalil Gibran declared, “Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.” In order to become faithful, you may need to experience some sort of doubt first. As Lillian Smith noted, “Faith and doubt both are needed-not as antagonists, but working side by side to take us around the unknown curve.” In the same way that darkness disappears in the presence of light, doubt disappears in the presence of faith.

 

For instance, suppose that you have full trust in your team at the work place. You know that their performance is remarkable and they always deliver high-quality results. In such cases, would you have any doubt about how your team performs? Would you be worried about meeting deadlines or need to control the team’s performance? No, because you have faith in your team and their capability; you no longer waste your energy thinking about what-if ‘s. Rather, you spend more time with your team to enhance the relationship and empower them to do even better.

 

2. Faith eliminates fear.

 

An old proverb says, “Fear knocked at the door and faith answered. No one was there.” In other words, when faith is present, there is no room for fear and worry. Most of the time, we are afraid because we don’t know what is going to happen. Through faith, we face unknown situations with confidence and trust and we become fearless. By feeding your faith, you eliminate your fears.

 

3. Faith gives you courage.

 

Marcus Tullius Cicero observed, “A man of courage is also full of faith.” When you have faith, you become courageous enough to take actions that in the absence of faith you would never take because faith assures you that everything will be all right in the end.

 

I love this quote by an anonymous writer: “Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, faith looks up.” When you have faith, you never look back to remind yourself of the traumas of your life in the past. You never look around to invite fear, doubt, and worries into your life. You always look up for the signs and gain courage to move forward and do wonders.

 

4. Faith makes you strong.

 

When you have faith, you become strong enough to achieve whatever you put your mind to. Faith gives you the strength to face unexpected storms with ease. Faith helps you persist even if you have experienced setbacks. With faith, you can move mountains even if you have only a shovel in your hand.

 

When you become strong, you welcome change and embrace it because you know that change is the only way through which you can grow.

 

5. Faith energizes you.

 

When you have faith, you connect to your true self and to the life force energy. It is like plugging into a source of energy. Through faith, you can keep your inner batteries charged. When you are connected to the Source wirelessly, you never run out of batteries no matter where you are and how difficult the situation. Faith helps you radiate your energy to others and draw them toward you to support you in achieving common goals.

 

6. Faith is a catalyst that makes the impossible possible.

 

By definition, a catalyst is a substance that changes (typically accelerates) the rate of a reaction without being consumed by the reaction. Many reactions do not take place without the presence of a catalyst because the rate of such reactions is so slow that it is impossible to generate any outcome otherwise.

 

Faith acts like a catalyst in our lives. Without faith, many things seem impossible. Having faith accelerates the rate of miracles and makes the impossible possible. As a catalyst, faith is not consumed by the miracle-making process. However, it may be poisoned or deactivated over time if it is not maintained. By connecting to the Source, the catalyst of faith will stay fresh and active at all times.

 

Author’s Bio

 

Dr. Kamran Akbarzadeh is the founder & CEO of International Academy of Leadership & Management as well as Dream Achievers Academy. He is known as Leadership Makeover expert. With years of experience in the corporate world and as a successful entrepreneur Kamran believes that the world in general and organizations in particular are in desperate need of authentic leaders who lead with their hearts and empower people to soar to greatness no matter where they are and what they do. He believes that authentic leadership is what differentiates the good from the brilliant in the 21st century. It was this conviction that inspired him to author his Amazon best seller, Leadership Soup, that recently became an award-winning finalist in the 2012 International Book Award.

 

Get instant complimentary access to the three-part LeadSucceed Jumpstart video training for your personal & professional success in happiness. CLICK HERE [http://www.internationalacademyofleadership.com/leadsucceed-pyramid/leadsucceed-jumpstart/]

 

 

 

 

Leadership

What Is Leadership?

With a title like that you might think I bit off a little more than I can chew. You might be right, but because there are literally thousands of articles, blogs and websites dedicated to discussions of leadership, I wanted to offer a logical definition of it in a thousand words or less. Here goes…

Despite the multiplicity of interpretations we read every day, leadership can be defined simply as:

“Organizing a group of people to achieve a common goal”

A leader can be anyone. There is no need for any formal authority to lead. A person simply needs to have the will, the courage, the charisma and the ability to capture the imagination of one or more followers in order to be considered a leader.

Centuries ago, it was assumed that good and powerful leaders had naturally occurring leadership traits that set them apart from others…Hence, the term, “leaders are born not made”. However, more recent studies have made it clear that given the right set of circumstances and with the appropriate motivation, most people can become true and effective leaders.

Some of the naturally occurring traits that make leadership ability come more easily to some people are:

 

  • Intelligence
  • Assertiveness
  • Diligence
  • Openness
  • Courage

 

When those instinctive traits are combined with learned skills and natural talents, variable levels of leadership ability may be reached. Without all of those traits, effective leadership is possible but much more difficult to achieve.

“It is important to note that one can lead much more effectively when the leadership endeavour involves something that the leader has good expertise in so that he or she may set an example”

It must also be something in which the followers have a need for or an interest in being lead in. For example: An expert tennis player might make a great tennis coach but a lousy sales manager. In addition, there would be no point in trying to lead someone to better customer service skills when he or she works in the depths of a coal mine.

As trite as those examples might seem, it is not unusual that people are put into leadership positions that they are not capable of handling simply because they have done well in another unrelated area. Also, self-promoting or toxic people who have no business trying to lead will often attempt to influence or lead coworkers in inappropriate directions. Both situations will create poor results.

“Good and powerful leaders need to have self-awareness and a solid grip on their own emotions”

Leadership skill necessarily includes the ability to set a mood or tone for the team. Leaders unavoidably telegraph their moods and attitudes to their followers who will adopt the preeminent emotional tone of the leader and carry it throughout the organization.

“One must not assume the only way to achieve financial success or even team success is through servant leadership, participative leadership, or compassionate leadership”

Given the right impetus and favourable circumstances an autocratic, command and control leader can drive his team to success both in the business world, on a sports court or on a battlefield. In the twenty-first century, we tend to reject that style of leadership, but it can be an effective (albeit, potentially negative and harmful) form of leadership nonetheless. If the team is not engaged and motivated, a strong autocrat might be the only leader who can create the environment needed for success.

Modern leadership lecturers and writers also reject the term “management”, since it seems to imply a lack of compassion and favours transactional or task orientation as opposed to transformational or people-oriented leadership. In reality, all organizations have some form of tasks and a specific number of people so it is evident that management may still be an integral part of the leadership cycle in many cases.

“In essence, even bad leadership is a form of leadership”

The efficacy of any leadership style can only be measured in results. In other words if the team meets or exceeds all of its goals, under the direction of its leader, those who benefit from those results may assume that the leadership was good regardless of the leader’s style. However, it is important to note that bad leadership in any form is usually short-lived.

The best and generally, most effective form of leadership occurs when a leader is able to maintain a high level of concern for his or her people while simultaneously keeping high-level performance paramount in the minds of all participants. This form of leadership often goes a step beyond servant leadership because it allows the leader to accurately control production and monitor results for maximum success. A leader who can juggle tasks and people without sacrificing integrity for either is a great leader indeed. That leader will almost always turn out better performance, more production and measurable growth while presiding over happy, well-engaged employees.

“It is important to recognize that groups of working people are assembled primarily to create some sort of product or service”

Great leaders are able to create buy-in to the vision of the organization while accepting and embracing the direction of its leaders. The key to buy-in and strong followership is communication.

Great Leaders are Great Communicators!

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