We are ALL leaders.  You may lead a corporation, an army, a team, a family, a small business... it doesn't matter... we are all leaders.   But it always starts with leading your self.  Your emotional health and the emotional health of your followers is determined by how you measure up as a leader.   I love what Yogi Berra said about leadership, "Leading is easy, the hard part is getting people to follow."

So, how as a leader, of what ever or who ever, do you bring out those feelings of desiring to follow you in those you lead?  Here are several tips that would do it for me and that would cause me to sign on as an enthusiastic follower of yours:

I. Trust

1. Speak the truth – People will forgive an honest mistake, they won’t easily forgive or forget you if you lie.

2. Do what you say you’re going to do – Follow through means never having to say you’re sorry.  If you say you're going to do something... DO IT!

3. Be transparent and candid along the way – As Louis Brandeis said, “Sunshine is the greatest disinfectant;” never be hesitant to let it shine on you.

4. Take full responsibility for the consequences of your actions and those of people working for you – The buck stops with you, don’t pass it on to someone else.

II. Confidence

5. Be clear and concise – as opposed to confused and confusing.

6. Be prepared to the best of your ability – Don’t shoot from the hip and don’t be afraid to say you’ll get back to us when you don’t know, but then get back to us.

7. Know how to get things done – By getting the right people in the right positions, doing the right things.

8. Have a track record of already getting things done that produce positive measurable results – And for the benefit of others (vs. your own ambitions) that you represent.

III. Respect

9. Know what’s important and what isn’t – Have the wisdom to know the right the thing to do, the integrity to do it, the character to stand up to those who don’t, and the courage to stop those who won’t.

10. Don’t do anything in front or behind people’s back that would make others ashamed of you – When possible, have your personal house in order (you can still lead if people discover your having engaged in personal indiscretions that don’t substantively and negatively affect them, but their positive feelings for you will be sullied by wishing you hadn’t).

IV. Enjoyment

11. Be comfortable in your own skin – Comfort and discomfort are contagious.

12. Put a smile on other’s faces – And cause others to feel that they put a smile on yours.

13. When you smile, have it touch your eyes (and when possible your heart) – The eyes are the royal road to the soul and not a bad lie detector.

14. Don’t take yourself too seriously – Laugh at yourself and the world laughs with you and not at you, and we could all use a good laugh.

15. Listen well – Be more interested in your loved ones, people and your customers than you are interesting.

For those who think the above are too soft and being a great leader is only about results and the bottom line, what kind of performance do you think you will get from people if instead of instilling the above, you trigger: Distrust, Doubt, a Loss of Respect and Dislike*? 

In fact, rate yourself on the four above categories and fifteen subcategories on a scale of: 1 to 3 where: 1 = rarely, 2 = sometimes, 3 = frequently

Then have someone else you know and trust rate you.