Growing Into You

 

“The task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already.” -John Buchan

I was pulling in to work today at Indiana University’s Assembly Hall (home to the Hoosier basketball team) when I saw about 2,000 people lined up around the entire building. I knew that IU was announcing the hiring of their new men’s basketball coach, but I could not fathom why that many people of all ages would be there to watch that. As I walked into the building, I began to see both pro and anti Hillary Clinton signs everywhere, and again, I thought how strange that was.

I dropped my stuff off where I work and walked to another building to attend my Financial Management class. The class lasted about an hour and a half. I figured that by the time I returned to Assembly Hall, all of the commotion would have died down. To my great surprise, there were news crews, police cars, and people everywhere. There was also political propaganda everywhere.

As I walked into the building for the second time, they were allowing people to enter the approximate 20,000 seat arena in a very orderly fashion. Security seemed to be very tight, so I knew something big was going on. I walked up a tunnel and I saw an usher and asked what was going on. The usher said, “President Clinton is on his way to give a speech.”

When she told me that, I became very excited. I did not become excited because I agree with his political views, morals, or anything else (I am not turning this into any kind of political article). I became excited because a part of America’s history was coming to Assembly Hall, and I was going to be able to see him. After going into the arena and finding a seat with one of my friends, I found out that he was suppose to have given his speech at 2 P.M. Well, the time was currently 4:20, and he was still a no show. The man was two hours and twenty minutes late, and there were still 8,000 people sitting in their seats waiting on his arrival.

Finally, after sitting around chatting with my friend for 10 minutes, we looked toward the center of the court and saw a lot of police action, followed by a lot of people in suits. You could tell that the President’s caravan had arrived, and he was about to show any minute. Finally, over the speaker, the announcer said, “Ladies and Gentleman, the 42^nd president of the United States, William Jefferson Clinton.”

Now, I do not care whether or not you like the man or agree with ANYTHING he says (I myself am not heavy into politics), the man has something special about him. As he walked out from behind the stage, he waved to all of the people and walked up onto the stage. At that moment, I had goose bumps run up and down my body because I realized I was truly in the presence of a very influential man.

I believe that all great leaders, whether they be from the United States or not, have that special kind of charisma that really gets people fired up. As I listened to President Clinton speak, I did not listen to as much of WHAT he was saying, but more of the HOW he said it. All politicians obviously have to be great speakers, but something about the way President Clinton delivered his speech got the crowd to cling on to every word he said.

As I was listening to him, I began to think to myself, “What makes a great leader?” Is it something they are born with? Is it things they have learned? There are leaders all over the world; in politics, in business, in sports, and in any other facet of life. These leaders are the ones that step up above the crowd and show the rest of the people the way.

A leader, according to the Encarta Dictionary, is defined as, “Somebody who guides or directs others.” Here are a few characteristics of great leaders.

1. True belief in his or her self: A leader has anywhere from a few up to hundreds of millions of people following them. This person must have a strong conviction in him or her self. This is a kind of confidence that is unshakeable because if they have ANY doubt in their mind as to what they are doing, if they are wrong, or what their next move might be, people will see right through them and look for somebody else to take over. As I was listening to the former president talk today, he believed (or at the very least acted like he believed) EVERY single word he said. He said it with the greatest conviction and left no doubt in his audience’s mind.
2. An expert knowledge in their particular field: This goes along with the conviction of saying what they believe. If the person does not have great knowledge about what they are talking about or doing, it will show. Yes, the person has to have an unshakeable belief in his or her self, but without the knowledge base along with that belief, the speeches and actions are worthless. I am not saying the president knows everything in the world, but he must have an expert knowledge with the items he talks about. If he wants to talk about the energy crisis, he better know and understand exactly what he is saying, not just be able to read a speech written by somebody else.
3. Very self-motivated: Any great leader is always striving to better both him or her self and the organization they are leading. A great leader is never satisfied with where they are at. If they are not good at something, they will strive until they not only understand it but become good at it. President Clinton today talked about how when he was in high school, he was very good with the advanced math. When he got into his physics course however, he just could not “get it.” He said that to this day whenever a book on Einstein comes out, he reads it. Whenever a new book on physics comes out, he reads it and tries to understand it. He said that his goal is to understand physics before he dies. His story about physics just shows how motivated he really is. Physics may not be of great significance in his line of work, but he wants to succeed at whatever he does.
4. Ability to unify: A great leader has an uncanny ability to bring together people and have those people rally behind him. I am a sports person, so the best kind of analogy I can give is through sport. You have a team that doesn’t get along, is not about the “team”, and simply doesn’t play well together. Then, the organization either brings in a veteran player or a great coach. This person has the ability to have the other players (who may or may not like each other) get over their differences and focus on the goal at hand. This goal could be politically or business related, not just sports related.
5. Ability to make others feel important: Leaders everywhere have enormous power. What separates the good leaders from the great leaders is how the person makes even the lowliest person in the organization feel. The great leader treats everybody the same. He will always make the time to do the little things that make everybody in the organization feel like the work they are doing is great and critical for the success of the organization. He is able to build great morale around the organization, and when the morale is high, spirits are high and work gets done.
6. Ability to give speeches: One thing that I learned from listening to President Clinton today was that he definitely had the gift of tongue. I know a lot of giving great speeches is practice and doing it regularly (I’m sure he has given his fair share of speeches), but there is a clear difference in great speakers from good ones. One of Indiana’s senators spoke before him, and she was a very good speaker, but quite honestly she had nowhere near the powerful impact that he did. Everything about his speech; his rhythm, hand gestures, pace, and tone was just right. He was able to just flow.
7. Charisma: This is by far the most important part of any great leader. A charismatic person is a very enthusiastic person who is able to inspire others. I believe charisma sums up the six previous characteristics. A person can have one or two of those characteristics and not be charismatic, but if he or she has all six, the world better watch out. Charismatic people have the ability to attract people by just being in the room. There is an aura around these types of great people that draw others towards them. Whenever this type of person walks into a room, there is a definite presence that is felt.

You or I may never become President of the United States or CEO of a Fortune 500 company. We can, however, strive to become leaders to the people that surround us in our lives. We can focus day to day to work on our weaknesses and make a conscious effort to become better. I may never be able to give a speech or have a following like President Clinton, but I can strive to make an impact and help make the world around me a better place!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 2:57 am and is filed under Self-Improvement. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.