There's No Substitute For Effort And Hard Work

So many individuals who ascend to leadership positions spend an inordinate amount of time and effort trying to figure out how they can be a leader without devoting all the time and effort that others have committed to. They seek answers from self- appointed leadership gurus to try to support their desire. These people are quick to adopt any system that relies more heavily on the efforts of others, whether it be paid staff, other co- leaders, volunteers or some combination of these things. However, the reality that they try to run away from remains that there is never a substitute for effort and hard work. The great baseball immortal Dizzy Dean appropriately put it this way, "Practice, work hard, and give it everything you have." While that is certainly true if one wishes to become a sports great, it is at least as apt for anyone considering becoming a true leader.

1. In my over thirty years of closely working with, and training well over a thousand true and potential leaders, I have become convinced that there is never any replacement for hard work and effort. Firstly, if a leader wants others to follow, he must commit to leadership by example. In addition, true and effective leadership is anything but automatic, and great leaders soon realize that while they can and must depend on others for certain things and tasks, the final responsibility is theirs, and much of the final results will depend on how committed a leader is, and much he is willing to work and give his best efforts continuously.

2. Many people who enter leadership positions do so unprepared for what they need to do. Often, the nominating committee, in its desire and quest to make sure they get someone to lead in these challenging times, oversells the position by making it appear that a leader is more symbolic and someone who presides than action oriented. Too many that ascend to these positions then over- depend on paid staff, who in many organizations have never been properly and effectively trained either. This is because far too few leaders understand the big picture and what is needed, and then they over- rely on others to get things done. Too many of these wannabe leaders want the supposed perks and acclaim of being a leader, but seem unwilling (or perhaps unable or unprepared) to actually be a true leader. They hear about a particular governance system that some guru tells them makes things better, and they jump on the bandwagon. They read about delegating responsibility, but seem not to understand that a leader must first train, and the continue to be willing to oversee, in order for delegating to be effective and positive. They buy into fancy rhetoric and begin using artificial jargon such as "metrics, measurable, quantify," etc., rather than working hard and insisting on results.

While it's true that it is easier to be involved in leadership if you don't have to commit to the hard work and effort, without those traits and actions, you will never be a true or effective leader. Before someone agrees to a leadership position, the organization owes it to them to explain what's actually needed and expected, and the individual owes it to his group to commit to hard work and maximum effort.

With over 30 years consultative sales, marketing, training, managerial, and operations experience, Richard Brody has trained sales and marketing people in numerous industries, given hundreds of seminars, appeared as company spokesperson on over 200 radio and television programs. He's negotiated, arranged and organized hundreds of events.