Elvis C. Umez

Anyone who begins the journey of following a Pioneer Leader in moving from point A to B must realise that the goal is transformation into becoming a leader, nothing more or less. And to be the leader, he must first be a disciple and then a collaborator. Every follower is motivated by two things because of their drive to meet their needs, which the Pioneer Leader must help them redirect: 1. The need to have what the pioneer leader has and 2. The need to become their ideal selves. What is the motivation of your followers: filling their stomachs or being something bigger themselves? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The stages of growth and development of the leadership cycle could be parallel to that of human. The Pioneer Leader is to understand their corresponding observable indicators in order to keep track of their transformation within a record time. The first stage are the followers, characterized by their incessant gratifications for every single moment for their needs. They seek the attention of the Pioneer Leader and will do everything within their power to sustain that because they are controlled by their id. They are like babes in the leadership cycle. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

As the Pioneer Leader continues to raise his followers, there appears to be four stages of growth and development in the leadership cycle: followers, disciples, collaborators, and leaders. He must take care in order to adjust his attitude towards them in moving them from point A to B. Each of these stages are characterized by significant indicators that must be observed if he is to guarantee transformation: the leadership becomes transactional, points of Influence become pronounced for each of the stages, and the demand for the nature of food changes. What marked changes have you observed amongst the people you are leading that is indicative of growth and development? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) iDB Consult

Pioneer Leaders who are more concerned about themselves and inclined towards using people for their self goals will end up having malnourished followers who cannot stand for themselves because they are deficient in wisdom, knowledge and understanding. In this condition, transformation is impossible. Every parent knows that growth and development is directly proportional to the quality of food given, which could either hasten or delay the child's ability to crawl, stand, walk and run. Hence, they persevere to make provision for the right kind of meal. Are you feeding your followers the right kind of meal? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Growth and development is one of the miracles of life such that all a mother needs to do to her baby is provide the basic the meals needed for growth and development, and the miracle begins. And of course she does not have to prayer about it. In leadership, all the pioneer leader needs to provide for the followers to grow and develop is wisdom, knowledge and understanding in the right quantities, and the miracle of leadership begins. The quality of the food is directly proportional to growth and development occur. What quality of food are you delivering to your followers? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Growth and development is expected to occur at three levels of the followers' life: spiritual, Intellectual and physical, which must be wholistic. When a child grows and develops into an adult on the physical aspect without the corresponding effect on the spiritual and Intellectual, he is refered to as BIG FOR NOTHING. The Pioneer Leader must take care to ensure that the growth and development of his followers transverse their physical, intellectual and spiritual life in such a way that they are not found wanting in any wise. Until growth and development become wholistic, the followers could only be refered to as BIG FOR NOTHING. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Growth and development are two undeniable factors that guarantees the transformation of every follower under the Pioneer Leader. The leader feeds them with the appropriate quantities of wisdom, knowledge, and understand within time and space to ensure growth and development. Like the joy that fills the hearts of a parent watching their wards grow, the Pioneer Leader is further motivated to ensure that he completes his assignment is ensuring the maturity of his followers within a record time. What kind of food are you feeding your followers? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

A dog will reproduce a dog; a lion, lion; a goat, goat; and a sheep, sheep. The list goes on and on. The Pioneer Leader, by all means, is to reproduce who he is, nothing more or less. The challenge of leadership is not in who your followers are when they join your leadership but in who they become when you're through with them. And the closest person they can become is who you know they are to be -- their ideal selves, which is not far from who you are. Who are you reproducing? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

In leadership, the prosperity of the Pioneer Leader is contingent upon his ability to create who he is from what is not -- the followers. If he is the leader, then he is obliged to create leaders, nothing more or less. If in the end the followers do not emerge as leaders, it is a clearer indication that the individual pioneering the leadership cycle is not a leader. You cannot not create who you are in leadership. Who are you really? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

I n leadership, success is not only tied to winning but sometimes losing. Also, failing is not always tied to losing but winning. This complex could make one to think that every successful leader is a perpetual winner, but no, that isn't true. What could be the excuse for winning in leadership? Many times people win because they are afraid to lose not because they love to win. While other fail because they are afraid to win, not because they love to lose. What's your drive? Fear or love? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development IDB Consult

A true Pioneer Leader is not the one with the most followers, but one who creates the most leaders, which is the hallmark of success in every leadership. People follow the leader because of the need to be transformed into their ideal selves. Leadership fails when the Pioneer Leader refuses to transform followers and reproduce himself into leaders because of the fear of losing control. Keeping perpetual followers is a mark of mediocrity on the long run. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Excusitis is a disease condition that guarantees failure, characterized by a marked increase in telling a story to justify why you failed in order not to try again. Great leaders are immune to this disease, because they rather die trying than live doing nothing.  It is better that your story is told to be you died trying to succeed as a leader than that you lived doing nothing to solve problems and face challenges of leadership, thereby setting a good example of a typical mediocre. Rise up to the task and kick against the brick with an iron shoe. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

In leadership, the value of the Pioneer Leader is contingent upon his experiential knowledge, which is directly proportional to his mastery in navigating the path of solving problems and dealing with challenges. The leader is able to do this by his ability to fail forward. Failing forward is identifying the actual reasons that made you fail and a resolve to master them and move forward until the problems and challenges are resolved. No matter how often a child falls, he continues to persist till he is able to stand, walk, and then run. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The fear of failure is the main reason why a lot of Pioneer Leaders fail in leadership. A child who falls in an attempt to walk did not fall because he is afraid of walking, rather it is because he is still mastering the act of maneuvering the influence gravity. Learning the act of maneuvering the influence of problems and challenges in leadership is very paramount in the scheme of things. Let your greatest fear be that you will do nothing than in doing something and failing at it. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Doubling your rate of failure opens you to broaden your understanding on the dynamics of how leadership work in real time as a Pioneer Leader. While many will disdain to hear the word, failure in their leadership, it is only because they do not have a proper definition of what it is, really. First, failing and being a failure are two different things. You are a failure when you quit trying because you have made the verdict that "it is impossible to continue trying,"  while failing is only discovering new ways on how not to do a thing. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Failure is an inevitable and non-negotiable part of leadership designed to afford the Pioneer Leader experiential knowledge in order to teach others. Those who wish they never fail at anything will never learn something new. Those who understand the value of failure in their leadership experience will always learn a new way on how not to do a thing when they thought they had known how to do it. To embrace failure you must constantly be ready to unlearn, relearn, and learn how not to do a thing in leadership. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

If anything will go wrong in leadership, it surely will go wrong because the leaders did nothing. Providing leadership goes beyond being at the helm of affairs, having a job description that stipulates what to do and what not, being the point man or occupying a leadership position. It is the ability to lead in order to provide assurance and trust that you know what to do, when to do it, why to do it and how to do it, even when that duty is not part of your stipulated job description. Those who play leadership roles who are not leaders will shy away from responsibilities that they believe are outside of their job descriptions, while leaders will by that situation create a new outline to their job descriptions. Put in other words, providing leadership is something that are meant  for leaders not for those who by virtue of availability find themselves in the place of leadership but with little knowledge on the dynamics of how things work in leadership. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Cons...

Providing leadership is one of the most difficult tasks associated with being the Pioneer Leader, especially, when communication is ineffective. While this is true, the leader should never make the assumption that the players of the leadership cycle understand his intentions. It is like concluding that a child with malaria will understand why you to have force the bitter pill down his throat. To the child, it is an act of wickedness, but for the parents, they don't want him to die. But where effective communication exists, assumptions are cleared even before they arise in the hearts of the people being led, whereas when it is absent, the people are allowed to make judgements based on the body language of the leader. Pioneer leaders should understand that providing leadership can be painful for the players, just like the crying of the child resisting the bitter pill does not stop the parents from forcing it down the throat. The goal is to save life and not to kill. In a bid to pro...

While we may have concerns over the way and manner the Pioneer Leaders run the organization, it is important to note that complains never really help them get things done properly. They are leaders because they know what to do, when to do it, why to do it and how to do it. Suggestions in themselves are only deserving when given through an organised route that does not bring about distractions. The truth is, what you complain about the pioneer leaders are actually things within your sphere of abilities. It is often the case that the pioneer leaders will pay less attention to matters when they are certain they are not important and urgent. Before you begin to complain, ask yourself whether what you're complaining about is something you have the capacity to deal with. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

While we may have concerns over the way and manner the Pioneer Leaders run the organization, it is important to note that complains never really help them get things done properly. They are leaders because they know what to do, when to do it, why to do it and how to do it. Suggestions in themselves are only deserving when given through an organised route that does not bring about distractions. The truth is, what you complain about the pioneer leaders are actually things within your sphere of abilities. It is often the case that the pioneer leaders will pay less attention to matters when they are certain they are not important and urgent. Before you begin to complain, ask yourself whether what you're complaining about is something you have the capacity to deal with. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The spectator syndrome has the most devastating effect on any leadership whose pioneer leaders allow the crowd to tell them what to do and what not. This syndrome creates the same effect created by back seat drivers who believe they know how the driver should drive. They talk with so much proficiency that could make you consider their suggestions, which is rather a distraction in a kind. Pioneer leaders should understand that distractions only come because they are focused and should never allowed themselves to be diffused into the words of those suffering from the syndrome. Every leadership is navigated by a game plan that only the leaders see. While it could be suggested that they are not doing what they are supposed to, it is important to note that their perceptive in the field of play differ from those standing aside and observing. In the football field, there could be a million spectators, yet only 22 players touch the ball. The players who score the most goals understand how to...

Mentoring is an inevitable and non-negotiable part of  leadership that  makes a leader, the Pioneer Leader. Just like a man giving birth to a child and raising him into a son, so it is expected of the Pioneer Leader to raise the followers at the end of the leadership cycle into fellow leaders, which determines whether that leadership will be relevant in the next 2 generations. It is only impotent men who cannot reproduce them, likewise, impotent Pioneer Leaders will refuse to reproduce themselves and would rather prefer to have perpetual followers, little wonder their leadership never outlives them. Leadership without any deliberate effort to mentor the young is a step forward and two steps backward, and will never leave an indelible mark on the sands of time. Are your mentoring the young under you as the Pioneer Leader? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The beautiful thing about the use of systems in running your organization is that it makes leadership results predictable. Just the same way you can predict the age of puberty of a growing child, the body is run by composite systems, as such, you can also predict the greatness of your organisation within time and space when you employ the use of system instead of anything goes. It takes about 12-14 years for a growing child to reach age of puberty, the same way in leadership, it also takes time to produce authentic results. While it may appear that short cuts may yield instant results, but on the long run, it cuts the life of your organisation short. There is not short cut towards achieving great results in leadership. Everything is seeded in time. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

A system is a set of principles or procedures according to which something is done through an organized scheme or method. It is a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting networks. Every outcome in leadership, whether good or bad, is contingent upon systems. Respect, loyalty, love, unity, etc are all predicated upon a system that makes them possible. In the same way you expect your body to digest food, but without digestive system that it would not be possible, so would it be required for you to achieve, say, respect within the members of your team. Because the African culture has been greatly influenced by the western culture, respect has become an earned commodity which each player of the team must endeavour to accumulate over a period of time. It is the responsibility of the Pioneer Leader to establish policies that ensure respect is never scarce. What systems are you putting in place to ensure loyalty, for example, in your organisation? Elvis C...

Systems and principles are two inevitable and non-negotiable aspects of leadership which whether the Pioneer Leader likes it or not would lead to either failure or success. The failure to create good principle-based-systems that afford success will inadvertently result into the development of bad systems with principles that ensure failure. Success and failure are systems-principles-based outcomes, which are mutually exclusive. The failure to succeed is a success in failure. Success and failure are a function of systems and principles. While you blame yourself or others for you failures to produce the right results, it is better you serve that energy and rather use it to assess the systems and principles you engage by. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The only way the successes of any leadership can be sustained for more than two generations is by using the same systems that produced the needed results. Anybody can drive the system when the dynamics of its operations are properly understood. That is because what makes the difference on the long run is the leaders resolve to follow the operational systems put in place in order the sustain the needed results even when it goes against their personal desires. Systems are developed from principles and foundational core values that ensure transparency and accountability, which are non-negotiable and must never be comprised for selfish gains. Nations and organizations with successes beyond two generations are pioneered by leaders who insist that things must be done by book. With what systems are you running your organization? Selah! Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

In the leadership cycle, the pioneer leader is one who knows what to do, when to do it, why to do it, and how to do it in leading himself and others in moving from A to B in the direction of actualizing the leadership purpose within the record time. The failure of any society or organization is contingent upon having pioneer leaders, who by appointment or election, do not have what it takes to lead. Being elected or appointed into a leadership position is one thing and being the leader is another thing. Only those who are leaders by virtue of the above definition will be able to make the difference. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Getting good leaders through an election selection protocol is almost not possible for establishing good leadeeship unless the system is designed in such a way that makes it impossible for its proponents to cheat and win the votes. The truth is: good leaders rarely win through the election selection protocol because real leaders are always and almost never liked by the masses, except in few cases. This explains why it looks as if good leaders have to persevere, play to the gallery or make alignments with others for their antecedents to be known. Popularity wins election. The more popular you are, the more likely that the selection process will choose you whether you are the leader or not. Nations and organisations who desire to be powerful must never use the election selection protocol for choosing their leaders, unless there is a preselection protocol that allows only leaders into the game. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The system of selection for those who are leaders and/or capable of playing leadership roles in any organization is paramount. When the system is skewed, the leadership will also be skewed. It is like frying a bad egg and hoping to get a good omelette out of it. Bad egg will produce bad omelette. When we get the system of selection right, we will no longer be worried about leadership performance because only those who are capable will be given responsibilities and the output will be profound. What system of selection does your organisation use in the appointment or election of leaders? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The value of education in leadership is to the degree that the pioneer leader succeeds at causing awareness and elightenment that bring about transformations in the lives of the players. For transformation to occur, awareness and enlightenment must not be mutually exclusive. Awareness is coming to terms with who and what you are, which can seen as the totality of your design while enlightenment is coming to terms with why you are who and what you are, which is the totality of your life's purpose. For any leadership to transit from point A to B, its players must be educated in order to be transformed into their ideal selves. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Every leadership emanates from the templates built by the preexisting leadership. And for the success of the past to be sustained and maintained, the present must build upon the template from the previous, through which a new sail can be set. This template is the consolidated successes attained within time and space by the previous leadership. Setting a new sail requires innovative mindset bent on creativity, which leads into crossing the "T's" and dotting the "I's" that were missed by the previous leadership. This is not by any means copy and paste, but a deliberate effort to improve upon what is left behind. What's your leadership template? Are you setting your own sail, or are you copying someone else's? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The essence of leadership is continuity such that the poineer leader endeavours to raise people to continue from where he or she stops thereby forming an endless ripple effect from one generation to another. Hence, the relevance of any leadership is to the degree that it is able to outlive itself after having transformed the players into their ideal selves. After the leadership success is achieved, it automatically becomes a template for the followers to build upon. What this means is that when success is attained, it almost becomes obsolete for the next generation, which will require innovation and tweaking if contuinity is intended within their spheres of abilities. Are your intentions in leadership geared towards continuity? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Cheating in leadership is possible. When you read leadership materials and decide to copy every methods and manners of approach in solving your leadership challenges, you just ended up cheating. It is more like a student copying answers from another student's paper in the examination of life and leadership with the hope of excelling. What you read in books are more like examples of what you will eventually encounter real-time. But you need to understand that your leadership challenges are tests to check whether you understand the concept as seen in those methods and manners of approach. Just like in every mathematical concept, which comes with examples, there are always exercises or problems to be solved. Don't cheat! Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

I often hear many motivational speakers say that "readers are leaders," which to me are words of rhetorics who have resorted to making good use of rhymes. If I bother to ask, are they wiser than Solomon that says that "...regarding anything beyond this, dear friend, go easy. There’s no end to the publishing of books, and constant study wears you out so you’re no good for anything else." While I beg to differ, I need to point out that most of what we find in books as only experiences unique to the individuals who wrote them. Leadership challenges are unique to each individual according their design and purpose, which when put in proper perspective can be surmounted without even having to read a single book on leadership. Read books because you want to discover principles, never learning methods and manners of approach. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Leadership is not for children just like marriage is not for boys and girls. Children in the sense that they lack the capacity to discern between what is good and evil, which can be explained by their lack of experiential knowledge. Beyond that, they need to attain maturity at their intellectual, physical and spiritual awareness to the reality of things. Those who fail in leadership have one thing in common. They are found wanting in their intellectual or physical or spiritual maturity associated with their leadership purpose in leading themselves and others in moving from point A to B towards actualising the intended results. While you continue to encounter challenges in leadership, be sure to check your maturity quotient at those three levels. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

I often hear people say that they have to read a lot of leadership materials in order to become leaders, and I wonder how that is possible. It's like saying that you have to read a lot of books on how to become a man or an adult in order to become a man or an adult. If you have to read books to become a leader, and now that you have become  one, why are still reading leadership materials? Leaders write books explaining the principles they used to get off their difficulties, which are meant for the Followers, Disciples, and Collaborators in the Leadership Cycle. Now that you are a leader, how have you translated your life's experiences into lessons to help others? It's time to start writing your book! Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Playing the role of a leader and being the leader are two different things. It could be likened to a child behaving like or playing the role of an adult, which does not make him one. The challenge of leadership, as I have observed, is alluding that people who play leadership roles can be called leaders, which in principle, they are not. Anybody can play the role of the leader without being the leader. The leader is one who knows what to do, when he has to do it, why he has to do it, and how he has to do it in moving himself and others from point A to B in the record time according to the leadership purpose. One cannot be said to be a leader if he or she does not know "what, when, why and how." It is just as simple as that. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

No one training, book, summit, workshop, seminar, etc will afford all the results you are seeking for in order to deal with your leadership challenges. It is like thinking that a single meal will afford you all the needed growth and development for a growing child. Growth and development is product of successive meals within a period of time and space. If you desire growth and development in your leadership, then continuous trainings, reading of books, workshops, etc over a period of time will make that happen if your goal is to produce a long term result. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant SOLD

Reading leadership materials will not help you be a good leader if you're not The leader. It's like a child reading books on how to be an adult, which is the major cause of most of the incessant challenges faced in leadership. Reading leadership materials is rather a palliative measure for short term results. If you desire long term and lasting results, then allow yourself to grow and develop into The Leader, which is a function of time. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant SOLD

UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE | THE HACKER In the previous essay, I made a parallel of man and a computer, and established the many things they share in common, which are mainly designer, operating system (OS), purpose, etc. I further explain that the OS of man is Life, which was hacked and certain malwares introduced that have left him stuck in himself. The hacker introduced a malware into the operating system of man called SELF, which when installed and ran leads to every form of selfish acts as can be observed in our world today. The impact of this malware is such that it forces man to measure the outcomes of his actions on the plane of good and evil. So individuals who have been hacked could be categorized into being extremely good, extremely evil, and just there in middle, which is where many fall into. When your life has been hacked, being good (molarity) is just the same as being evil (immorality) because all your actions emanate from the same source – the hacker. The hacker, in...

UNDERSTANDING PURPOSE Without purpose nothing will exist. Many of us believe that life has a purpose, and of course it is true. Contrariwise, some have argued that there is no such thing, which is also understandable. I believe that my life is fundamentally given to address two things, purpose and leadership. And each of these two things cannot do without the other because for every leadership, there is a purpose; and for every purpose, leadership. So, in this essay and the subsequent ones, I will endeavor to seek to use acceptable words to help you understand purpose, how and why it cannot be divorced from leadership. We cannot talk about purpose without first of speaking about design, and we cannot speak about design without making reference to a designer. Sequel to that, here are a few questions that I need you to answer: Do you think that your life has a purpose? Do you believe that that purpose is according to your design? Do you also believe that someone designed you just the ...

INFLUENCING YOUR LEADERS In the previous essay I discussed on some of the classifications of the leaders and added that today I shall begin a discourse on the dynamics of influencing the leaders by the pioneer leader, which I find very interesting. The most difficult people to lead are leaders but on the long run, leading them produces great results with a lot of friction, which is associated with the pioneer leaders’ inability to understand the dynamics of influence with them. However, leaders in their nature are mainly driven towards results as their basic motivation for followership. Put in other words, leaders will easily follow the pioneer leader because he or she produces result at every given time. Yet each of these leaders will be uniquely influence according to their personality dimension, and for the pioneer leader to be able to influence them, he/she must focus on understanding their points of influence, which I explained in the previous essays about the points of inf...

THE EXPLANATION OF THE LEADERS’ CLASSIFICATIONS The focus of today’s discourse is on the explanation of some the outlined classifications made in the just previous essay. I am going to do this using an analogy we all are conversant with, which is “do not give me fish, rather teach me how to fish” to explain the principles associated with some of these leaders being classified. Let us assume that the leader owns a fish pond and his leadership purpose is to provide fresh fish to the members of the society at their steps. Here are possible things he could choose to do: To the Followers If he chooses to give people fish, he will end up having perpetual followers who are satisfactorily dependent on him. To the Disciples If he chooses to teach the people that follow him how to fish, he will end having perpetual workers who would rather go on strike for a pay raise or look for another fish pond owner to continue the same work. To the Collaborators If he chooses ...

CLASSIFICATION OF THE LEADER BASED ON LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE PREDICATORS In the just previous essay I started a discourse on the classification of the leader and focused mainly the predicators, which I referred as Design and Purpose. Also, I established that you cannot know “why” until you have a clear understanding of “what”, meaning that understanding your design precedes the purpose. However, today, I am going to go straight ahead and lay the classifications as we see leaders from the eyes of the School of Leadership Development. They are as follows: A. Based on Influence The way leaders influence the followers: Leaders who provide Short term needs Leaders who provide Long term needs The way leaders influence the disciples: Leaders with Apparent evidence Leaders with Real evidence The way leaders influence the collaborators: Synthetic purposeful leaders Authentic purposeful leaders The way leaders influence the Leaders: Short term result oriente...

LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE | THE CLASSIFICATION OF THE LEADER In the just previous essay, I began a discourse on the leader who has been transformed from being a collaborator by a superior leader in the cycle of leadership, and defined him/her to be one who has discovered his/her design and purpose, equipped in the direction of leadership by another leader, and is ready to take him/herself, as well as others, in direction of actualizing the intended result. But today, I will begin a discourse on the classification of the leader starting by establishing the predicators of the classification. Who you become as a leader is largely influenced by your understanding of your leadership design and purpose, which according to this essay will be seen as the predicators for the classification of the leader. Put in other words, the fundamental questions that every leader must have asked and gotten the right answers, while going through transformation in the cycle of leadership, are: “What Am ...

LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE | THE LEADER In the leadership cycle, there are four stages, which are the followers, disciples, collaborators, and leaders. These four stages are progressive as the individual who enters into the cycle must be transformed by the leaders from stage 1 to 4. In the previous essays I explained the dynamics of influence as the leader seeks to transform the persons he or she is leading, starting from the follower up to the collaborator. Today, I shall begin a discourse on the last stage which is the leader. The significant marker or indicator of the collaborator is the discovery of leadership purpose and design, as I have explained in the previous essays. The implication is that without the discovery of purpose and design the individual would not progress from being a collaborator to another stage, the leader, which forms the focus of this essay. If the collaborator did not discover the authentic purpose for the leadership, he or she is bound to synthesize one in ...

DYNAMICS OF INFLUENCING YOUR COLLABORATORS In the just previous essay I pointed out the three major right attitudes the leader must have in his or her bid to influence the collaborators, which are: he or she must always come up with superior argument, be grounded in wisdom and knowledge, and be proactive in proffering solutions that make problems go away. However, today, I am going to be discussing the dynamics of influencing the collaborators and the point of influence associated with them in the progressive transformation of the cycle of leadership. In the cycle of leadership, the leader is given a goal to transform followers who got attracted to them by the leadership vision into becoming disciples who by a series of teaching learning of the principles that make for good leadership are transformed into collaborators who have eventually discovered their leadership purpose and are willing to either sustain the work being done by the leader or are launched out as leaders in order to ...

INFLUENCING YOUR COLLABORATORS In the just previous essay I discussed about the collaborators with respect to leadership and influence as the leader is required to understand why they often act the way they do. Also, I explained that a collaborator is the young in the leadership cycle by virtue of exposure and experience with relatively good information about dynamics of how principles work in real time almost seems to operate from the same level of information with the leaders but lacks experiential knowledge. This definition is basic for the leader whose goal is to succeed in leadership. Today, I shall be endeavoring to look at the right attitude the lead should have towards these collaborators, which I will discuss in three headings. However, before I do that, there is need to point out that many of the difficulties leaders face with collaborators is predicated upon poor discipleship work, which will be the thrust of the next essay. Superior Arguments Based on experiential knowl...

LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE | THE COLLABORATOR In the previous essays I established that in the cycle of leadership that there are four stages, which begins with the follower, and after that comes the disciple, collaborator and then the leader. I also defined who a follower and disciple are by virtue of their stage in the cycle of leadership. Today’s essay will focus of telling a few things about the collaborators and how the leader should approach them in order to actualize the leadership purpose. Collaborators are the young in the leadership cycle by virtue of their exposure and experience with the good information about dynamics of how principles work in real time. They almost have the same level of information with the leaders but are only lacking in experience. They are acquainted with information of how things should be done, even better, but have never tried them out. They are the journey men of every organization, association or institution, and are always willing to work a...

THE DYNAMICS OF INFLUENCING YOUR DISCIPLES In the previous essay, I discussed the dynamics associated with influencing your disciples according to the designs, and promised to begin a discourse on the collaborators, but while I continued to consider that discourse, I realized that there were a few things that I left out that are very important for the leader to be armed with in influencing his or her disciples that I will devote my time in explaining in today’s essay. If you have been following these essays accordingly, you will realize a common trend with leadership and influence that is common to both the followers and the disciples, which is their personality dimension and temperament that explains the reason why they act the way they do uniquely. The focus in this essay will be to explain the points of influence of the disciples that the leader should be properly aware of if he or she will eventual succeed in transiting them to the next level according to the leadership purp...

THE DYNAMICS OF INFLUENCING YOUR DISCIPLES ACCORDING TO THEIR DESIGNS In the previous essay, I discussed influencing your disciples, and to do that effectively, the leader must understand the individual designs of the disciples. Their design I mean here is the why they act and respond to things the way they uniquely do both as individuals or a group. The truth is that you can never influence your disciples if you only see them through your own eyes and not theirs. The rest of this essay will endeavor to discuss in a concise manner the dynamics associated with influencing your disciples according to their designs. Before the leader begins the process of leading the disciples, he or she must come to the knowledge of the personality dimensions of the individual disciples, because every individual has specific but similar inherent abilities that predispose them to agree or disagree in following instructions that result into their transformation in leadership. In my previous essays, I exp...

INFLUENCING YOUR DISCIPLES In the previous essay, I was able to explain who a disciple is and said that he or she is a child or apprentice or protégé who needs his or her innate abilities (in the form of potentials) to be awakened through exposure to life’s experiences, anchored by a trusted leader, targeted at causing growth and development, on the long run, for solving problems and taking responsibilities in the society. Today, I shall endeavor to discuss how the leader can be able to influence his or her disciples without having to manipulate them. However, there is need to point out that the activities of the leader with the disciples center around teaching learning process. The leader must understand that the disciples respond to teaching learning process based on their unique designs, which requires a differential approach so that it does appear some are brighter than the other. Leadership and Influence with respect to teaching the disciples the things the leade...

LEADERSHIP AND INFLUENCE | THE DISCIPLE In my previous essays I established that in the cycle of leadership that there are four stages, which begins with the follower, and after that comes the disciple, collaborator and then the leader. In the subsequent essays, I shall continue to x-ray each of these stages with the intent of explaining in a concise manner the responsibilities of the leader and how they can be influenced in order to produce the intended results according to the leadership purpose. There is need that I say at this point that these stages are not necessarily associated with physical age as the case may be, rather they are concerned with the experiential knowledge that makes an individual able to discover purpose and fulfill it within time and space, which requires that he or she is exposed to the environment that affords such knowledge, and leadership being one of those. A follower, who is a babe, does not have experiential knowledge associated with leadership, and th...

INFLUENCING YOUR FOLLOWERS | TWO KINDS OF FOLLOWERS In my previous essay, I discussed influencing your followers and promised to further look at the two kinds of followers that every leader will encounter in the cycle of leadership. Today, I am going to begin a work based on that promise. There are two kinds of followers in leadership. Remember that I had said that a follower is a neophyte who enters the cycle of leadership because he or she needs to be inspired  and raised to grow in the direction of an intended purpose in order to be transformed into his or her ideal self to eventually become a leader. Being a neophyte in this sense is not necessarily a function of age, in principle, but a state where the individual is new in the terrain of leadership. These kinds of followers include: 1. Adult followers 2. Non-adult followers Adult followers These are followers who have already determined a path for their lives before realizing that they have to make a U-turn in the righ...

INFLUENCING YOUR FOLLOWERS | THE DYNAMICS OF INFLUENCE Yesterday, I discussed the two kinds of followers that every leadership will encounter in the cycle of leadership with their corresponding observable characteristics to help identify them and I promised to discuss the dynamics of influence with respect to the followers. Today, I am going to make the deliberate effort to explain the dynamics of influence associated with the follower in the cycle of leadership and why their responses to following leaders are somewhat selective and often times idiosyncratic. Having established in the previous essays that each of us influence and are also influenced uniquely, and yesterday, I also laid out the three points of influence, which I will further consider to be gates that are contingent upon temperament and personality dimensions that make us vulnerable to the people that lead us or we lead, which are spiritual, intellectual, and physical gates that also correspond to three realms of life....

INFLUENCING YOUR FOLLOWERS In my previous essays I explained that a follower is a neophyte who enters the cycle of leadership because he or she needs to be inspired  and raised to grow in the direction of an intended purpose in order to be transformed into his or her ideal self to eventually become a leader. Also, I further explained that there are four stages in the leadership cycle that the leader has the singular responsibility of ensuring that the people being led complete their rounds in the cycle. The four stages are the: Follower, Disciple, Collaborator and Leader. Each of these stages is characterized by liminal phases and observable indicators or traits for each individual in the leadership cycle. The focus of this essay is to establish how the followers can be influenced in the direction of achieving the intended result needed, which lies solely on the leader’s dexterity in understanding the dynamics of human personality and relationship with the articulation of v...

PUSH UP? As I continue to ponder on the many activities associated with how Christian faith should be pursued, it becomes obvious to me that some of the questions in my heart are becoming very audible, even to the passerby. One of them is fitness. What should be the right perspective to it? I love to work out in the gym, and many times I get worried by some of the comments I get from people, like, “stop being carnal”, “stop doing the things of the flesh”, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood”, etc. As I consider these, I begin to lose interest, but then, I need to be fit in order to fulfill God’s purpose for my life. Yes, I mean, physically fit. Imagine if Jesus was not a carpenter, would he have been able to carry the cross? I believe, Jesus was a macho man with well-developed muscles following the way he was raised. And Luke records, “…Jesus increased in wisdom and stature…” showing His level of physical fitness before launching into His assignment. He was fit all round, spirit,...

THE KISS OF BETRAYAL As I continue to ponder over several concerns in comparison to the writings of the scriptures, with respect to the way life should be ordered, the contrast I see is so great, as if we are moving 100 miles per hour in a wrong direction. I am caught in the mesh of thought; either to emulate the prevalent models or live the life portrayed by the Master – Jesus Christ, in my work of life. I have so many examples, which are far from the truth in that they “have a form of godliness but denying the power thereof,” as Paul tells his protégé, Timothy, to beware. But also these seem to have great following, hence, the contraption, “results silence arguments.” Today, I will try as much as I can to look at the kiss of betrayal. Why did Judas have to kiss the Master for the high priests to identify Him? Did Jesus look the same as the disciples? Did His dressing seemingly not set apart from those of His followers? Were the high priests so dumb that each time they saw Him the...