Leadership 101 – Build the Fire Within

 Leadership 101 – Build the Fire Within

By Nikki Viljoen – N Viljoen Consulting (Pty) Ltd 

Bob Nelson says “You get the best efforts from others by not lighting a fire beneath them, but by building a fire within.”

One of my favorite sayings, when I am dealing with clients who are no longer even holding the reigns of their own Company, is “This is a business and not a democracy!”

The reason for this is that a Company is legislated and has many requirements and therefore much responsibility and accountability.  The accountability stops with the Business Owner or Chairman or CEO., depending on the hierarchy of the business structure, irrespective of whether that person is an effective leader or not.

In my opinion, it is therefore extremely important for the “Leader” to keep this in mind.

I agree that it is far easier to get someone’s ‘buy-in’ to an idea than it is to drag them kicking and screaming towards the watering hole. 

In order to get that ‘buy-in’ however, it is extremely important to have the right people or the right team!  People who have the same vision and the same desires as you (as the Leader) do.  People who are just as inspired by the end goal as you (as the Leader) are. This is also one of the reasons that it is just as important to have diversity within the team so that individuals will challenge themselves and each other to achieve that goal.

The goals must be the same, the outcomes must be the same and the intent needs to be the same -  how you get there, well on that point they can be as flexible or direct as they make it, as long as the desired result is achieved and obviously preferably as long it achieved in a legitimate way.

The innovation around the “How To” get that goal achieved is the fire that needs to ‘be built within’ and that fire is often achieved by diversity.

A leader who is clearly passionate about what they want, and if that passion is authentic and congruent to who they are and how they live their truth, is far more likely to inspire and ‘light’ the fire that will burn within rather than one who just lights the fire beneath. 

Be the leader that you would want to light your fire within and inspire you to be all that you can be and do all that needs to be done.

Nikki is an Internal Auditor and Business Administration Specialist who can be contacted on 083 702 8849 or nikki@viljoenconsulting.co.za or http://www.viljoenconsulting.co.za