THINK LIKE A LEADER by David Oladipo

In a world in dire need of authentic leaders, we must rise up and not just walk the talk but help others to do the same. We all need to develop our leadership capacities so that we can produce more results. Much more importantly, however, we need to help others to develop their leadership capacity. If we can have a critical mass of REAL leaders, our country and continent stand a better chance. The work of a leader is to create leaders, not followers. To be a leader, you must think like a leader. There is a way leaders think, a way their minds work. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. You cannot grow beyond the level of your thoughts. Leadership begins in the mind.

HOW DO LEADERS THINK?
My number one job is to help you become a leader. The easiest way to achieve this is to get you to start thinking like one. Don’t think like a servant; think like a leader. There is a way leaders think. Leadership is a mindset. You will not become one if you don’t think like a leader: everything starts inside.

• Leaders Think Systems.
  • Ordinary folks do things personally while leaders create systems for doing things.
  • Systems will outlive and outlast you.
  • Systems will make sure things can go on without you.
  • Systems will amplify your efforts and multiply your results.
  • Systems bring out your potential.

What Is A System?
A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole.
A set of principles or procedures according to which something is done; an organized scheme or method.
A system can be defined as an interdependent group of items, people, or processes working together toward a common purpose.
Examples:
√ Your body is made up of many systems.
√ A vehicle
√ An organization (usually has different departments working together towards the same goal).
A wise man said System is an acronym for
Saving Yourself Stress, Time, Energy, and Money.
When you create a system, you are saving yourself stress, time, energy, and money.
Systems demand that you collaborate with others, so real leaders think about collaboration.
Leaders work with people while ordinary people work alone. If you don’t like working with people, you are not thinking like a leader; you will not achieve much, and things will most likely die with you.
You must create systems as a leader, no matter how small what you are doing is. Once you have two or three people working with you, create a system.

• Leaders Think Posterity
  To be a leader, think about the future.
  √ The future of the people under you.
  √ The future of the organization, group, department, etc., under you.
  Because you are concerned about the future, you will do things with the future in mind. You will fail if you focus on today as a leader.
• Leaders Think Empowerment
  Training is crucial to the achievement of success in any endeavor. Average people believe they know it all, or that what they know is enough, but leaders are always looking for how to get better. The more you learn, the more you earn.
• Leaders Think Others
  Leaders don’t put themselves first. They’re constantly thinking about their people, group, assignment, etc. Leaders are servants. Serve your people, serve your organization, and serve your city and nation. Yes, serve, serve, serve!
• Leaders Think Improvement
  Many people are not improvement-minded, but a leader is. Leaders constantly think about how to do things better. Are you going to continue to do things the way you have always done them, or are you planning to improve? The largest room in the world is the room for self-improvement. Leaders constantly explore opportunities for improvement, not only for them but for the people
  under them.
• Leaders Think Results.
  Average people think of effort; they rarely stop to see whether what they’re doing is even making sense at all, but leaders think of results. Activity is not the same thing as accomplishment, so don’t be busy for the sake of being busy. As a leader, you must constantly think, “What have we achieved with these efforts?” Average people are content with being busy while a leader is interested in the outcome of that busyness.

To become a leader, you must think like one. If you commit to the principles listed above, you will find that you are making real progress in your leadership journey. Thank you.
Dr. David Oladipo is a certified leadership and management consultant. He is the Chief Responsibility Officer at DOMI Leadership Consult Limited and President of the David Oladipo Leadership Roundtable.
For consultation, speaking engagements, training and strategy sessions, etc., he can be reached via domileadershipconsult@gmail.com.