Leadership is not solely having the power to tell someone what to do… quite the contrary. True leadership says, “Here, watch me and how I do this… OK… Now you try. I will help you understand and help you improve your skill set. How can I help you further?” A True leader focuses on developing followers into leaders.

Transformational leadership, in my opinion, is the only way to lead. However, one must fully understand one’s self before any attempt to lead others can succeed. How can the blind lead the blind?

I feel as if I simply identify with this style more so than any of the others but, I completely agree with the idea of being a situationally dependent leader. There will always be circumstances that require one to approach the situation from a different perspective and a different mindset. After all, the definition of insanity is simply doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. Adaptability is incredibly crucial in any leadership position and that is the concept that sits at the heart of the principle coined by Darwin. Survival of the fittest has nothing to do with who is bigger, better, faster, or stronger but, who is smarter. Intelligence is adaptability and the pursuit of continued education, knowledge, and improvement.

Consistently and effectively seeking and achieving continued education and constant practiced knowledge are simply our greatest weapons against ignorance, which contrary to popular claims, is most definitely not bliss. Ignorance, in my opinion, is the precise opposite of bliss and it hinders far too many individuals in positions of leadership and power causing those in the follower position to thirst and crave for proactive quests of intelligence and true leadership.

When in a position of leadership, I have learned that I must actively seek out potential, and possibly better futures; simultaneously, I am required to motivate those around me to equally and as a team, believe and desire the goal ahead. By motivating myself, and being extremely positive and proactive, I can empower others and help them visualize achieving a goal that is simply sitting in front of them just waiting to be conquered and dominated.

Success driven goals are key in any form of leadership. The question is, what is the definition of success? This is a question I believe every leader must ask of himself/herself… “What does success mean to me?” “How do I define success and how can I attain it?” “How WILL I attain it?” I sincerely believe that every leader has to learn at one point or another that reflection of past events, regardless of whether they produced a positive or negative result, is the brain’s and the heart’s opportunity to attempt to understand what sequence of events must occur to either achieve a similar result or achieve an alternate result.

I personally went through something extremely traumatic a few years ago. The sequence of events that resulted in a violent catastrophe could have caused me to go one of two directions. I could have either sulked and cornered myself into a depressive state, allowing my emotions to control me by focusing on how everything made me feel as opposed to how I could avoid ever feeling this way again; OR I had the opportunity to experience the many emotional implosions associated with traumatic events, subsequently reflect upon each incident, thus resulting in the ability to learn through them, and label the incident as a learning experience that, although it was a very negative life lesson, it was a life lesson nonetheless. I could learn from this and teach myself that the sequence of events resulted in a negative outcome and that somewhere in the equation, a different insertion of action would be required to attain a different result. In order to avoid a negative cycle of impending doom, I have to resolve and understand where in the equation did the problem exist? The best path to the desired result of knowledge is adaptive self-reflection. I learned that I must process through past events in a positive manner. (This, unfortunately, requires a large quantity of energy and it can detrimentally influence a person possessing a weak will to submit to the abyss self-destruction through a downward spiral of negative emotion that continues to drain your essence further and further into darkness. I learned that it is imperative to be persistent about the desire to make the necessary changes in order to reach success. Weakness is a disease that could be demolished with the proper antidote or it can destroy you. If you are not willing to fight any longer, then waiting to perish while miserably crawling through unproductive days that will continue to increase in negativity is a waste of time and oxygen.

Effective reflection leads to learning; learning leads to knowledge; knowledge, when put into practice, can efficiently and effectively be accessed as a tool of awesomeness increasing intelligence. Negative thoughts that would have resulted in the development of feelings of worthlessness could cause a weak individual to fall into destructive and negative behaviors. Instead of unproductive thoughts of negativity, access it as a learning tool with insight into the cause and effect, slowly gaining courage and perseverance. By slowly adapting more positive courses of thought and action, I have learned that I have the ability to choose how I feel. I took back control of my life and my precious well-being.

I have learned that I should never regret anything I have experienced. Every situation was independently a priceless lesson in life that in turn, I either enjoyed and chose to repeat or, chose to understand that it was an action that occurred in the past, it cannot be changed, undone, or forgotten. Learn from it and proactively seek out a much better result by alternating the sequence of events and choosing to commit different actions to accomplish an alternative result. I sincerely believe that when an individual chooses to allow regret to act as a legitimate emotion, that individual is choosing to not accept responsibility for their involvement. Once you take responsibility and accept the consequences resulting from previous actions, the paralyzing negativity transforms into an understanding of self, and the mentality encouraging acceptance, understanding, and actively moving forward leads to adaptability in overcoming adversity and transitions those events of experience into insight.

Henry Ford used to say, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” We believe what we tell ourselves because it is simpler but, unfortunately, simpler is not smarter or more productive in any sense. Nothing worth striving for or worth accomplishing ever came easy. Easy breeds laziness and that is not conducive to effective leadership.

Effective and respected leadership is the outcome of determination, perseverance, and reflection of past situations with the intent of learning and improving in order to continue advancing. When we stop trying, and lose the motivation to constantly increase our knowledge base and improve, we as intelligent human beings die and leave behind an empty shell, useless in any endeavors for lack of intelligence and drive. We just take up space and waste time. Snap out of it!! No person in their right mind would ever want a leader comparable to Eeyore.

Failures are gateways to knowledge and wisdom that are required and should be demanded of anyone in a leadership role. However, it is the intelligence to understand the need to adapt that will lead to the wisdom craved. Thomas Edison very confidently said that he did not fail, not at all. Failure was never an option. He just simply succeeded in discovering 10,000 ways that did not work. The knowledge from that alone increases a leader’s understanding of self and in turn, once you can understand yourself, the understanding and active craving of inspiration together, begin a journey towards amazingness. Understanding the self is the biggest and most crucial step towards the learned ability to understand and therefor, effectively lead others.

Success is a crucial motivator towards adequate competence. Transformational leadership demands a knowledge base and skill set that is crucially dependent on personal integrity, optimism, innovation, creativity, and an active ambition that persistently views all scenarios as win-win and transforms any possible problems or issues into a challenge to further develop skills of excellence and unconventional visions which, in turn, morph into confidence, expertise, personal power, and intelligent behavior that is indicatory of an individual who is capable of intelligently leading others to become great leaders.