In my career and personal life I have had the privilege to have led many teams. Sales professional from a team of six up to nearly one hundred. In sports, I have coached youth sports, and taught children and adults karate. In ministry, I have led a variety of ministries from Men’s Groups to Young Married’s Groups & Retreats; from Sunday School to Youth Events, from financial planning committees to media ministries. Conversely I have also been led by some amazing leaders that pour wisdom and optimism into their people. These leaders have a vision of success, not just for themselves, or the company, but their people.

Being blessed to be on this earth for a few decades, both leading others and being led by others, I would like to share some of the wisdom I gained. Some is from trial, error and experience, while others was from formal education to countless books or certified seminars I have attended.

First of all, there is a difference between what is a manager and a leader. True leaders lead from the core of their values, principles with a passion that is contagious. Managers manage things, processes, and paperwork. If you are in the role of management, I hope you take a leadership perspective that I unfold in the following top 10 I have assembled here:

1. Leaders are like great coaches. They inspire their people to improve. They motivate and communicate well. They will outline what you need to get things done, explain the process, and celebrate your successes.
2. Leaders get to know their people, the members on their team. They learn what truly motivates each person whether that is in engaging conversion and 1 to 1s, to personality typology tests. Leaders listen attentively to their people and demonstrate a high emotional IQ also known as EQ.
3. Leaders realize they are not perfect and they have a level of humility. They continually grow, and refine their skills, and grow in their ability while understanding that they too make mistakes. However, they learn from their mistakes and rise to the occasion to improve.
4. Leaders believe in the products, services, or elements they represent. They adopt their company or organization’s mission and objectives and are able to communicate it well to their team with optimism and passion.
5. Leaders have a solid core of values and principles to navigate their professional and personal life. They lead within their family, and their community the same way they do within the team or teams they are over. They are authentic, and genuine and the same guiding principles are apparent whether they are at work, at home, church, or in the community.
6. Leaders realize they are after the same objectives, the same goals as that their team should be. They help remove obstacles and assist in providing the information and the tools for their team members to succeed.
7. Leaders are good and experienced decision makers. They make informed decisions decisively and take responsibility for their decisions. They make no excuses, they are focused on winning with a well laid out plan. They are winners, not whiners. When others see a sand or water trap on the course, they see the beach and the ocean. They are natural optimists.
8. Leaders value priceless time and invest it wisely and productively. Whether it is investing it in their team to accomplish goals, or in themselves to improve. They begin with the end in mind, seek first to understand their objectives, their team members, and then seek to be well understood. They do not waste time in processes, or unnecessary elements that are not productive, and proactive to achieving the goal and objectives at hand. They address things, or obstacles, initiate a plan to overcome and resolve it, then move on.
9. Leaders lift their team members up. They look for qualities in their team members for someone that could fill their position. They realize if they can pour into others the skills and knowledge they have gained, realized or learned, then that is part of their role to build up future leaders to take their place.
10. Leaders identify, mold and bring up future leaders. True leaders are always on the look out for new and future leaders. They look for someone that could replace them in the near future and encourage these individuals. They coach them in a way that brings out the best in them, so that they may bring out the best in others.