Want to be a Leader? Here are Four Top Leadership Principles for Not Just Work, but Everyday Life

Have you aspired to consistently motivate and better yourself? Do you see yourself more as a leader than a follower? Or if you and/or your peers don’t see yourself as a leader but you want them to, what are you going to do?

Like earning the greatest things in life, becoming a leader is not an easy journey.

A few years ago I began my career in college athletics, and while I have since transitioned into specifically writing and communications, there are many qualities that were taken from just a few years as a Sports Information Director that have stuck with me given the situations I was in.

Long story short, I was thrown into the deep end though I was given a life jacket with my first job.

My first job was as a director and not an assistant, and needless to say, I had to step up to the challenge, but embraced the opportunity. I was the Sports Information Director at a university whose athletic department consisted of 33 sports programs and it was a one-man show with me minus having an assistant during home games.

After a few months of working solo, I began having student workers and interns help during game days and other events with the university like our annual student-athlete award ceremony. Had I managed anyone like this before in the work force?

Nope!

Was I discouraged with the road ahead of me?

No, I said to myself ‘boy this is going to be a long year’ but it’s time to embrace this challenge. It will also help me to learn and grow personally and professionally.

Throughout my first year as an SID, I was also taking classes to finish graduate school and this was pre-COVID and all classes were on site… a 60-minute commute from my office every Tuesday and Thursday.

Which leads to my first principle for being an effective leader:

Diving and digging deep.

This goes with being an employee, employer, a friend, or if you are the commissioner of an organization. What are you going to do when you begin to get buried with work and then you’ve got multiple other tasks to do at home? Dig deep, and develop time management and organization skills while you’re at it.

Time management and organization skills pave the way to greater production and less stress, try to focus on one thing at a time. I would imagine that if you are a leader, you are going to want to put as little stress on yourself as possible given that you are already in a leadership role. A great step to doing that is by organizing yourself and developing a strict schedule and sticking to it.

Which leads to my next two principles to effective leadership:

Think big and be resourceful with it.

Are you trying to constantly think big picture and what is to come in the long run? Or do you want to take it one day at a time and learn as you go?

Whichever way you choose, a character trait that I have found to be most useful is resourcefulness. The art of being resourceful with someone needing to create solutions with limited resources is something that should not be taken for granted.

Strong leaders have a tendency to adapt well to new or difficult situations and they are able to think creatively and develop new solutions.

Use this as an example, if a snake gets loose in the pet store, a resourceful person will find a way to lure it back into its cage.

Being resourceful can be seen as a way of leading by example. Resourceful people also tend to see challenges as opportunities, opportunities to change or reinvent solutions and even chances to learn and grow.

Hire resourceful people and surround yourself with them. It can give off a very positive vibe — they know that there is an answer, they don’t give up, and know there is an opportunity around every corner.

Learn and be curious!

Another principle to leadership:

Having self-awareness.

Being self-aware is understanding oneself best of all, being comfortable enough with themselves and their surroundings to execute something the best way he/she knows how, and ultimately going through with it.

Understanding oneself is knowing one’s beliefs, values, character traits, emotions, and thoughts. In a way, people are in a psychological state of putting themselves as the center of attention.

There are a couple of types of self-awareness: private and public. Private self-awareness being able to reflect privately on one’s internal state, being introspective and approaching your feelings and actions with curiosity. Maybe you notice how you tense up before a job interview or seem to feel more nervous when you’re around certain people in your life.

Public self-awareness being aware of how you perform in front of people. How do you do with public speaking in front of large audiences for instance? You may experience public self-awareness in the workplace or when you’re with your friends.

If you’re highly self-aware, you can evaluate yourself objectively while managing your emotions, understanding correctly how others perceive you, and acting in accordance to your values and beliefs.

One final principle to strong leadership:

Earning trust.

How do you earn someone’s trust? Is it simply by performing well with minimal supervision at a job? Is it earned by going that extra mile for someone else and showing selflessness? Is it by being open-minded and willing to take criticism in order to perform a duty better? Is it by taking responsibility for one’s actions and admitting when you’re wrong?

It can be all of the above.

If you’re a new employee and want to work up the ladder, motivate yourself to perform your best, it will not go unnoticed.

Honoring your commitments, communicating effectively, and showing people that you truly care are other ways to earn trust.

Another form of earning trust can be the personality traits of being authoritative but also approachable.

There will come times when a leader needs to light a fire under one of their employees or friends and nobody wants to do that, but if it’s what’s best for the individual(s) and/or company/team, it needs to get done.

On the other side of the coin, you should also be approachable. Perhaps welcome new ideas from your employees that can either help an organization financially in the long run, or boost social media presence with new digital marketing tactics. Remember now, this doesn’t just go for the workplace, this goes for relationships, friendships, partnerships, and so on.

There are so many qualities that go into being an effective leader, and the road to being a leader is not an easy one. There are going to be times where you make mistakes and have to learn from them while taking full responsibility and ‘wearing it’, there will also be times where you may have some self-doubt. Can you overcome that self-doubt and reassure that you are in control of your life while projecting that confidence to other people?

Another principle is understanding the need to change oneself in some way, shape, or form in order to be more successful. If you are leading a meeting and there are questions that arise during or after that indicate certain messages were not clear from the presenter, then perhaps you need to change the way you deliver your message in order to best get it across.

Whichever the case may be, if you aspire to be a leader, please don’t be afraid to be open to new ideas, respect creativity, make yourself approachable to people, gain their trust, and embrace the leadership role!