The 21 Indispensable Qualities of Leader: Competence

As we have already established, the title of this article and its corresponding book is somewhat ambiguous. A leader can be good or bad, positive or negative, effective or ineffective. However, this book certainly outlines the specific attainable characteristics that we can all work toward to in our lives and leadership growth.

The book is by John C. Maxwell and the subtitle is: becoming the person others will want to follow. I have read it, and I truly reccomend it. In this series, I will go over the most important of these qualities that we can all try to develop in our own lives. I have mentioned some of these qualities before, but here is where we get into the nitty gritty stuff.

Today's quality is competence. "If you build it, they will come."

Just a funny comic about competence. 

It may not come as a surprise that this quality is one of the "21", but it brings about it's own set of challenges. The most common definition of competence is the ability to accomplish something effectively and efficiently. John Maxwell defines it as, "the leader's ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that others know that you know how - and know that they want to follow you." Seems easy enough, right? Well, competence is something that is practiced and worked towards everyday. This is why we work hard to be "the best" at something. The story to go along with this chapter in the book is about Benjamin Franklin. Every night, he had a list of thirteen of his personal virtues that he graded himself on for that day. Surely, none of us goes that far, but we all work hard to be the best that we can be with our given talents. The point is to develop quality in our live whatever that may mean. The book outlines a few steps to doing this.

Show up everyday
Keep at it. They always say practice make perfect, and it truly does, If you don't believe this, you haven't practice long enough. Keep showing up everyday and working to "cultivate quality" in your life.

Keep improving
Live a goal-oriented life and always be looking for new ways to improve. Begin to understand why you do things and what makes it important to you.

Follow through with excellence
Now that you have your goals and a practice schedule, follow through with it! Do something great with the gifts that you have. It will inspire you to keep moving forward. See a pattern?

Accomplish more than expected
Wow the audience with your excellence. This does not mean that you should work to impress other, but that out of your own integrity, go the extra mile. Find the drive within yourself to do extra work when you know it's worth it!

Inspire others

Combine your personal competence with your leadership skills and lead the way for your group! 

All of these things can seem very idealistic, and determining what needs to be done is much different than actually doing it. To aid in this process, Maxwell includes a list of how to apply these concepts to your own life. 

1. Get your head in the game. 

Refocus yourself in school, life, or sports. Whatever it may be, decide to recommit yourself to it and get your head in the games. 

2. Redefine expectations.

Now that you have recommitted yourself, redefine what you expect from yourself with various activities. If you set the standard high, you are more likely to achieve it, and even if you don't, you will be farther than you were before. 

3. Set 3 specific goals.

Find 3 specific ways that you can improve in life. Set a goal that you know you can achieve with hard work. For more information, see my New Year's Resolution article. 

All in all, being a good leader begins with competence. It takes hard work, but it pays off! The next quality is problem-solving. 

Why You Should Never Pass Down Your Legacy to Multiple People

"A House Divided Cannot Stand"
Lincoln really knew what he was talking
about when he made these words famous. 

As I paged through my dense world history textbook and pondered the adventures of history's greatest people, I found myself questioning a pattern. Time and time again, powerful leaders of successful empires deliver their legacy to their grandchildren, generals, or relatives. Their once-great kingdoms are divided and left for the dogs (foreign invaders). Have we not heard "a house divided cannot stand"?

Alexander the Great
We have all heard of the powerful leader. He conquered the known world at the time. His army was fierce, and his tactics were gruesome. At his death, he had not named a successor to his empire. In turn, three of his top generals fought over the left over land. The kingdom was divided into Ptolemy (Egypt), Macedonia, and the Seleucid Empire (Persia). The divided land was weaker than the whole as under Alexander, but his legacy still remains as a one-hit wonder.

Genghis Khan
Look at that beard.

Genghis Khan
If you have heard of Alexander, you have probably heard of Genghis. He was born into a poor family and struggle to make a living for himself left alone a name. At a young age, he was declared leader of the Mongols, and he then conquered kingdoms to establish the largest continuous kingdom in history. With his death, his kingdom was divided between his grandsons and relatives into four main regions: the Khanate of Chagatai (central Asia), the Khans of the Golden Horde (Russia), the Ilkhans (Persia), and the Yuan Dyansty (China). How many of these have you heard of?

Charlemagne
This man is less well-known, but he did the same thing. He built the Carolingian Empire in Europe, the first kingdom to reestablish authority in Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. After his death, his three grandsons fought bitterly over who should get it, and in the end they divided it up. It all crumbled so quickly that my textbook doesn't even name the successor states. Why didn't his legacy live on?

This has happened repeatedly in history, and I am not exactly sure what we should learn from it. Perhaps that a leadership position should not have too many co-positions. Or maybe that most legacies work this way, and sometimes no one can be the same as that one great leader. Or maybe these leaders planned it that way, so that they would be the only ones to make the history books. Who knows? All I can say is aim to be a legacy starter not a hopeless successor.