Dominate the competition
Get instant accessWhat are the essential qualities that make a great leader? What are the skills, strategies, or tools that we can use to shape our natural gifts into true effective leadership?
For more than 35 years I’ve been obsessed with learning the answer to what makes a difference in the quality of people’s lives: Why is it that some people who are given every advantage so often fail to achieve what they desire and deserve. In contrast, we all know people who have lived incredibly difficult lives—lives filled with unimaginable challenges, and often injustice—who still seem to find a way to breakthrough and get results, not only for themselves, but find a way to serve others in a very deep and meaningful way.
I’ve had the honor of working in 100 countries with more than 50 million people from every walk of life—from incredible leaders to the most challenged individuals you can imagine. We’ve had 4 million people in my live seminars, so at this point I’d have to be an idiot if I didn’t see that there are certain patterns that cause people to succeed and other patterns that cause people to fail—patterns that cause people to be overwhelmed and stressed out and other patterns that allow people to find deep meaning and success in virtually every aspect of their lives.
Part of my understanding has come from the fact that for decades I’ve been a leader called upon by leaders. I get the call when the fire starts. When the President of the United States has to address the nation. When an athlete is burning down on national television and I’m required to intervene and create measurable change on a moment’s notice.
The one thing that I’ve found that separates the quality of people’s lives—the single largest difference—is the capacity to lead. Leadership skills are not just a gift. Leadership skills are something anyone can learn.
Who is a leader? You and I both know it’s not always the person who controls things by position. How many times have we been in a meeting when the person at the lowest position was influencing the direction of a decision or a project? We all know that —whether you are the CEO, or the manager, or the mom—
