How to Become a Great Leader
DON’T BE A NORM
In order to be a great leader or coach, you have to be an awe-inspiring version of yourself. That way you can be a role model for others and get the most satisfaction from your vocation or career. I say vocation, as being a great leader is much more than doing a job. It provides a purpose, or as Simon Sinek describes it, a why.
Recently, I was at my Uncle Kevin’s funeral. The Priest told the congregation about how Kevin did his job as a bricklayer with pride and recounted the tale of how, in one bad winter, Kevin lit a stove near the building materials to keep them dry. Worried that the fire would burn out, Kevin got out of bed at midnight and drove back to the site to rekindle the stove, in fact, he did this every night for a week!
Whatever your job, doing that little bit more and having a purpose will differentiate you from the norm.
NEGATIVITY BIAS
You probably don’t realise this, but your ancestors were probably a bunch of negative b******ds. You have evolved from tribes who were conditioned to focus on danger and threats. We have what is known as a negativity bias, which means that we focus more on the negative than the positive. This was essential for survival and the hard-wiring in the amygdala part of our brain would amplify threats over other events.
This cave person thinking still kicks in today, causing the production of cortisol which floods through our system to give us the energy to fight or flight. But when the stock market drops 20 points we don’t need to run fast or start a fight, so we become stressed. Our brain waves go from an alpha state to a beta frequency, and too much beta activity causes anxiety, stress and a lack of perspective. When this happens focus on the many good things you have going on in your life.