The Conviction of a True Leader

 

Conviction is often defined as a threshold level beyond which one feels a high level of confidence about what one truly believes should be done. I think the best leaders have very high emotional intelligence (EQ) and greatly respect the feeling of being unsure. They are very humble AND confident. Subsequently, humbleness provides a runway to keep gathering information, agonizing, and assessing until an acceptable threshold level of confidence is reached, i.e. conviction. 

At the same time, impact leaders have the uncanny ability to know when enough is enough. They are smart enough to know that analysis paralysis is not an option. Timing also plays an important role in getting to conviction. 

I think there is danger in getting to premature or false conviction. This often happens because leaders rely on authoritative leadership

Once a leader discovers his personal gifting and leadership, it ignites conviction in his heart. In the process of leadership development, conviction has a twofold connotation. The first sense of the word is the certainty that you have something essential to contribute to humanity. It is a 100 – percent dedication to your purpose, which is stronger than any opposition you might encounter. As a leader, you must be convinced that you exist for a worthy reason and that you are able to accomplish what you were born to do.

The second sense of the word refers to conviction (plural), or deep held belief on a commitment to one’s purpose. Conviction gives you a sense of direction in life. They guide your activities and give them meaning. Your conviction is instrument to your characters development. They lead you to become dedicated to specific principles, or a code of ethics by which you pledge to live as you carry out your purpose.

An individual can have the other qualities of leadership, such as influence or passion, without having conviction. But true leader manifest each of the qualities - and in ingredient we are sorely missing among leaders today is personal convictions. Having Convictions is what enable a person to remain stable and trustworthy, even in the midst of difficulties or temptations.

Frankly, if you don’t have solid convictions, you don’t deserve to have followers. If you keep vacillating in order to please people, if you keep sacrificing your belief system in order to be Accepted, you are not a leader you are a compromise. We need leaders who are willing to stand up to the disapproval of their own friend, and the public at large for the sake of something that is noble and true. Today, it is hard to find leaders who have such commitment to their convictions. To be a true and a great leader you must have a strong conviction that you will stand on it and your followers will also follow you because of that conviction.

The Power of Influence in Leadership Development

To a large extent, leadership is influence, and all of us already exercise some influence – whether positive or negative. If somebody else is watching you, you are a leader. The moment you have a child of your own to raise, you are a leader. When you know more about a particular subject than others and can teach it to them, you are a leader. When you are placed in a position of responsibility over your peers, you are a leader. 
Leader who exercise positive influence don’t try to prove themselves to others. They are more concerned with “manifesting” themselves, or revealing the purpose they were born to fulfill. When you inspire other people through your passion, you never have to announce that you are a “leader.” People will think of you as a leader, and will call you one themselves, because you will have motivated them to do something – change the status quo, create something new, find a solution to a problem, and so forth. 
The essence of influence is the ability to motivate other people to take action and effect change. You can’t lead if you don’t influence. You can’t influence if you don’t inspired. You can’t inspire if you don’t have passion. And you won’t have passion unless you are convinced about your purpose, convictions, and vision.

As leaders go, so goes the world. Therefore, if we don’t do something about the global crisis in leadership we are experiencing today, the state of our society is going to grow worse and worse. Moral leadership is urgent in human affairs because the character of leaders for good or for ill – affects the lives of their followers. Let us look at some specific ways in which influence occurs.

Leaders Influence the Mind-set of the Followers
Leaders can transform people’s outlook to the point where their perspective becomes completely different from the way they formerly thought. Such influence is a tremendous power that all leaders need to acknowledge and discipline in their own lives, ensuring that they do not abuse it – especially since a change in mind-set almost leads to a change in behavior.

A leader can use rhetorical skills to convince people that what they believed was good is evil, and vice versa-altering their values and conduct. Followers must always weigh the consequences of what they hear and receive from their leaders.
In contrast, an enlightened perspective is a gift that true leaders can give their followers.

Leaders Influence the Characteristics and Attitudes of the Followers
A leader who holds deep convictions can transfer those convictions to others. For instance, he can rouse the fearful so that they will take bold and necessary action in the midst of a crisis. Winston Churchill, through his powerful speeches, stirred the English people to continue standing against Nazi Germany after the fall of France. In one of these speeches, he famously declared, “….the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin…. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British empire and its commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘this was their finest hour.   

In contrast, a leader who lacks conviction can transfer his complacency or timidity to his followers. There is an account in one of the books of Moses in which Moses sent twelve leaders to scope out the Promised Land before the nation of Israel entered it. When the leaders returned, ten of them expressed their fear of the inhabitants, declaring that they were too strong to defeat “we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes and we looked the same to them. two of the leaders insisted they would still be victorious, but the people grumbled and took on the perspective of the ten who were afraid and felt like “grasshoppers” in their own eyes. As a result, the victory was delayed for forty years almost two generation. The people lost out, largely because they allowed the fearful mind -set of their leaders to infect them.

 Leaders influence the morality of the followers
The ethics of a leaders can sway those who follow him - ethics directly, through the corporate values that are encouraged through his leadership, or through his policies. If the leaders are high – ranking official over a nation, his morals can permeate an entire culture. You may come from a country in which the leaders have tremendous gifts, communicate well, and are competent in various leadership techniques -but are lacking in ethical convictions. Many leaders do not take responsibility for their actions. They feel they should experience no consequences when they betray the trust of their constituents, whether their employees, their families, or the public.

 Leaders influence the commitment of the followers
If leaders have strong conviction, his passion will become contagious among his followers, leading them to commit to his vision. Earlier, we talked about martin Luther king. In relation to how leader develop vision. King’s vision gave him a passion that inspired and influenced average” people such as housewives, carpenter, masons, teacher, and religious leader to march in nonviolent protest against the refusal of certain state in the nation of acknowledge and permit voting right for black. A number of them personally faced the resistance of policeman armed with club, dog, water hoses, and tear gas.

A leader’s commitment can be transferred to enough people that his personal conviction eventually becomes a national movement. A leader principle can initiate an irresistible process of reform. But if you meet it squarely and remain constant in your convictions, others will join you.

Leaders influence the Destiny of the followers
The influence of someone who has conviction can lead people to a destiny they might not otherwise have reached.

Conversely, the influence of a leader who lacks character can condemn his follower to an appalling fate. In the 1970s, cult leader Jim Jones convince people to live loved ones and in the jungles of Guyana. Several years later, he led 909 of his followers to their deaths by inducing them to drink cyanide – then he shot himself to death.

Adolf Hitler was a gifted politician and communicator, wielding tremendous influence over the German people. He held thousands of citizens spellbound as they listened to his speeches in person on the radio. His oration was so powerful that some people thought he was a god. Hitler had many characteristics of an effective leader. But his philosophy, his personal code of ethic, was immoral. It turned his leadership assets into frightening tools abuse.
Hitler didn’t value all of human life --- just a small segment of it. His warped value system created disaster for his nation and many other nations of the world. Millions of people died as a direct or indirect result of his reign. They were starved, died of disease, or were exterminated in concentration camps, and quarantined ghettos. While fighting World war II---- a war Hitler instigated----many people were killed in battle or died when they succumbed to disease or accident; others were wounded, maimed, or emotionally scarred for life. Multitudes lost loved ones and possession, seeing their entire way of life vanish. Today, the German people are still trying to come to grips with the question,” how could our people have let that happened and even have participated in it?
The lesson for us is that whatever we accommodate, we will ultimately embrace or be destroyed by. We are not any level----social, economic, emotional, physical, or spiritual ------ if we didn’t know the person we are following .we can’t afford to be complacent.

Tips for improving your self-esteem

Each and every one of us have self-esteem. Self-esteem is made up of the thoughts we have about ourselves and plays a role in almost everything we do. Having healthy self-esteem is really important as it helps you make positive choices in your everyday life, gives you the courage to be your own person, have good relationships and helps you deal with difficult situations.

Low self-esteem can have harmful effects on your mental health, your decisions about your appearance and ultimately, your future. It’s not easy to like every part of the way you look, but getting stuck on negatives can really bring down your self-esteem.

Other effects of low self-esteem include:

• You avoid difficult situations
• Sensitive to criticism
•  Anxiety
• Withdrawal from social situations
• You are reluctant to trust yourself

It’s important to believe, deep down that you can change. Change doesn’t necessarily happen easily or quickly, but it can happen.

If self-image is a problem for you, if you don’t believe you can succeed, please take to heart the following ten suggestions.

Guard your self-talk

Whether you know it or not, you have a running conversation with yourself all the tim. What is the nature of yours? Do you encourage yourself? Or do you criticize yourself? If you are positive, then you help to create a positive self-image. If you’re negative, you undermine your self-image.
If we want to change our lives, we have to change the way we think of ourselves. If we want to change the way we talk to ourselves. And the older we are, the more responsible we are for how we think, talk, and believe. Don’t you have enough problem in life already? Why add to them by discouraging yourself every day with negative self-talk?
Become your own encourager, your own cheerleader. Every time you do a good job, don’t just let it pass; give yourself a compliment. Every time you choose discipline over indulgence, don’t tell yourself that you should have anyway; recognize how much you are helping yourself. Every time you make a mistake, don’t tell yourself that you should have anyway; recognize how much you are helping yourself. Every time you make a mistake, don’t bring up everything that is wrong with yourself; tell yourself that you are paying the price for growth and that you will learn to do better next time. Every positive thing you can say to yourself will help

Stop comparing yourself to others

Comparing yourself to others is really just a needless distraction. The only one you should compare yourself to is you. Your mission is to become better today than you were yesterday. You do that by focusing on what you can do today to improve and grow. Do that enough, and if you look back and compare the you of weeks, months, or years ago to the you of today, you should be greatly encouraged by your progress.

Move beyond your limiting beliefs

Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t believe that they can accomplish great things. But the greatest limitations people experience in their lives are usually the ones they impose on themselves. For example, let’s say you would like to learn a foreign language to improve your career or better enjoy a vacation, but you don’t think you can do it. Once you’ve identified that belief, define how not learning that language is limiting you. Then describe what it will be like when you learn that language. How will it make you feel? What will it enable you to do? What might it do for your career? Then write an empowering statement that affirms your ability to learn the language, outlines the realistic process you will use to learn it, and describes how you will be impacted by this growth. Remember, in the end, it isn’t what you are that holds you back; it’s what you think you are not.

Add value to others

Because people with low self-esteem often see themselves as inadequate or feel like victims (which often starts because they actually have been victimized in their past), they focus inordinately on themselves. They can become self-protective and selfish because they have to be to survive.
If that is true of you, then you can combat those feelings by serving others and working to add value to them. Making a difference-even q small one-in the lives of other people lifts one’s self-esteem. It’s hard to feel bad about yourself when yo are doing something good for someone else. In addition to that, adding value to others makes them value you more. It creates a cycle of positive feeling from one person to another.