Leadership Journal

Leadership Ages

2008-12-09T18:17:00.002+08:00

If age can define stages of Leadership, I would categorise them to be:

a) 12 to 18 years old - Try to learn about and experience Leadership as much as possible. Take on roles and appointments willingly that come by your way. Do not be complacent, do not be contented with just one brand of Leadership. You can look up to some role models, copy some of their leadership styles, but remember, they may not be "the" leadership styles that suit you. You are unique so do not try to be like them if you cannot.

b) 19 to 25 years old - Right now, you may think that you have grown enough - likely not. You need to keep growing. But the way that you grow may be different now. You may want to pick up a book on Leadership and read, hang on to a mentor that will guide you and harness your leadership potential and put it to better effect and use. Be careful of your youthful tendencies such as "pride" and "impulsiveness". Be careful of being burnt out from working too much too.

c) 26 to 38 years old - You are now maturing in age. You are bruised by life's experiences. Ups and downs that determine the perspectives of your life. Some leaders will fall away at this age, some will still be growing and serving. You need to reflect on your life' goals and directions, keep remembering them - what matters to you most in life? Get yourself a group of friends that will accompany you through the rest of the life's journey. If you hang on to them and your values - you are likely to last longer. Consider at this age to mentor someone that will carry on your leadership legacy.

d) 39 to 50 years old - Mentor someone/people at this age. Your rich experiences of leadership will benefit the younger generation of leaders. Do not waste it. Carry on that legacy - carry on growing.

e) 51 to .... - I have not experienced this age yet. I will picture it as mentoring age, still growing, still experiencing. Life does not need to slow down - we can stay healthy by exercising and eating right. We do not need to live an idle life. We can still mentor people, helping people to reach their leadership potential and .... still grow. Hope that when we look back at this age - we will see a rich legacy of leadership lifestyle that brings benefits to people.

Growth Complacency

2008-11-24T19:07:00.002+08:00

I must guard myself against complacency.

The more I read on Leadership and acquired more knowledge about this topic - the more I should guard myself against the thought of having reached there. The tendency to shut off from learning more from others and the possibility of stopping to grow is there.

Knowledge brings competency and ... possible complacency too.

So, I tried and still trying my best to brush off "Leadership" from my mind and keep going and growing. I refuse to think I have attained and try my best to keep an open mind to receive more knowledge from people and books. When I lead, I do not consider myself as a leader - I lead because I want to serve and help others to grow.

It is paradox for me - only when I do not consider myself as a Leader, then I am really a Leader.

Some people consider Leadership as a Destination - I rather consider it as a Journey, a Process. I may never be able to reach there at all in this life but I have a choice of continuing the journey and keep growing.

Complacency has no place in True Leadership.

Defining Leadership

2008-11-16T14:25:00.003+08:00

Ok, before I go further, perhaps we should define Leadership and stick by a few leadership terms at this blog of what I meant when I mentioned Leadership and Leadership Training.

I will go by Dr John C Maxwell's definition of Leadership - below contains most of his definition with a bit of modification on my part :

a) Leadership is influencing people to follow a common goal (or goals).

b) Leadership Training is about developing and helping people to grow to their fullest potential, both in work and life. - The ultimate goal of Leadership Training is training people so that in turn, they can train others.

Leadership Basics

2008-11-03T01:51:00.005+08:00

If I would think of the basics of Leadership - just three important points to make Leadership works, they would be :

1) A close relationship with God.

2) A close relationship with People.

3) A close relationship with Oneself (ie - we lead ourselves first).

Leadership is all about relationship, I guess. Maybe not - it needs to work with skills too. Skills like communication, public speaking, etc and other essentials like character, confidence and so on ... will talk more about that next time.

Minus off the three important points that I have mentioned - Leadership may still go on, but without good foundation, it may not last. The basics of Leadership fall back on how you relate to God, People and Yourself. Leading is not about management - running a camp well, does not make you a leader, able to type long event proposals only indicates that you are competent in writing and planning.

ok .. I am using this blog to draft my books like I have mentioned in my previous posts.

They may not link to each other now, hopefully they will do next time. I will go offline at times to type on my pc. will present the drafts once I have finished them.

What would they be?

2008-11-03T01:38:00.002+08:00

I am rather impatient at times - wanting to finish up as quickly as I have started.

Yet, good things do not come easy. To write books on Leadership for Youth, I should attempt to make them relevant for them and make the writings and application interesting to them so that they will read.

I have in mind writing in short paragraphs - straight to the point, yet compact and detailed. Working with youths as a teacher make me realise that most of them do not like to read - they live in generation that receive information at their finger tips. Fast and sharp like fast foods.

I have started to write. still drafting. doing reflections when I am not.

I am not sure when the first book will be finished, but when it does, I will inform you and will also print them out for my students. Free - if they want to read.

Here it Goes ...

2008-11-03T01:27:00.003+08:00

I am thinking of writing a book or books on Leadership. About leadership that I have learnt and experienced in my 10 over years of teaching and working with teens. I have read books on Leadership - most of them by Dr John C Maxwell. I thank God for such a man - I have learnt much from his books. Through working with teens and students - I experienced Leadership too.

It dawned on me recently - books on Leadership written for Youth Leaders are rare. You can hardly find those in bookshops. I thought of writing down my experience so that when I am passed from this Earth - these books of records of Leadership can still be passed down from generations to generations.

These books once finished will be made available online, through this blog. I am intending to make them free for downloads.

In the meantime, I will use this blog to draft my books. Pages of draft will be made available on this blog before they come together to form my first books.

Hope that I will find the strength to finish what I have set out to do.