The Eleven Skills of Leadership

1) Getting and Giving Information

Getting and giving information is probably the competency required of leaders. If you cannot communcate effectively, then no other leadership skill will compensate for this lack. First and foremost, you must be able to exchange information effectively and accurately.
There are three distinct aspects to communication, or getting and getting information: Getting it, retrieving it and giving it.

Getting Information
When getting or receiving information, you may be watching for a variety of clues to gather meaning: not only verbal or written information, but nonverbal behvior as well. If you are not careful, facts will be forgotten or distorted. This is because both the individual sending and the person receiving the information may unintentionally obscure the message.

There are two ways you can insure that the information you receive will not be forgotten or distorted:

• Take note. Always write down key information received.
• Repeat back what you think you heard the person say.

While you may think you understand what you think you heard, you may in fact have gotten it totally wrong. Clarify and verify! In a communication exchange, the sender controls what and how is said, or the content of the message. The recipient controls what is heard and the feedback given.

Giving Information

When giving information, use all five senses whenever possible. In addition,

• Speak clearly.
• Use language that everyone understands.
• Vary your tone and pace.
• Move from the general to the specific.
• Use visuals
• Eyeball the listener.

What is a Leader

At the most basic level, a leader is someone who leads other. But what makes someone a leader? What is it about being a leader that some people understand and use to their advantage? What can you do to be a leader?

A leader is a person who has a vision, a drive and a commitment to achieve that vision, and the skills to make it happen. Let's look at each of those in detail.

The Leader's Vision

A leader has a vision. Leaders see a problem that needs to be fixed or a goal that needs to be achieved. It may be something that no one else sees or simply something that no one else wnats to tackle. Whatever it is, it is the focus of the leaders attention and they attack it with a single-minded determination.

Leadership Skills

Beyond the personal traits of a leader, there are specific skills someone must master if they wan to be a leader.

• Effective communication - it's more that just being able to speak and write. A leader's communication must move people to work toward the goal the leader has chosen.


• Motivation - a leader has to be able to motivate everyone to contribute. Each of us has different "buttons". A leader knows how to push the right buttons on everyone to make them really want to do their best to achieve the leader's goal.


• Planning - the leader has a plan to achieve the goal. He/she doesn't get too bogged down in the details, that's what managers are for, but rather uses a high level plan to keep everyone moving together toward the goal.

Work Hard vs Work Smart - Part 2

I have often reflected on these words, realizing that in today's world, just working hard won't always get you to where you want to be.
As I've considered this advice, I have come up with some tenets that will always hold true to the spirit of 'working hard, and working smart.'

Work Hard
When at work, give your employer your full attention. Working hard also means working honestly. If you are getting paid for working 56 hours a week, you need to be wholly 'present' for those 56 hours. While on the job, do you spend an unresonable amount of time away from where people can reach you, on the internet, taking coffee breaks, etc? If so, can you really expect to become truly successful at your job? Working honestly also creates good karma, which I'll touch on again.

If you aren't employed, work hard at keeping what comes into the house. I stay at home, and don't earn a paycheck, but that doesn't mean that I don't work hard. I do work hard, and my work has value. Besides raising children to be contibuting members of society, I save money aggressively by constantly learning to be economical, incest that saved money in diverse ways, and am steadily increasing our family's net worth. Despite not being the family breadwinner, I work hard at being successful, and at gaining wealth.

Work Hard vs Work Smart

It's always a big question in the industry Where I am working, or is it a common phenomenon? People, who do work as a duty or rather as an obligation try to drag it till the end and end up in the swirl or procrastination. That embarks a journey or crib club....

If you work for what you believe, its not hard work! You will consider it hard work when it becomes an obligation. Alas, we don't find entrepreneurs in every day of life, at least to the nonobservant eye. Probably they are the same people whom we tease as hard workers or the one who don't find time to take for themselves. What we may not realize is that their enjoyment lies in work. A typical phenomenon I observe is that people believe that they work for their ends and there exists a fine line between personal enjoyment and professional work. Ask what effects personal enjoyment? I have strong objection to people who resign themselves to 12 hours of long work the moment they enter work station. Neither do I have respect for canteen mongers, or the shirkers who pretend to work only when their boss lands at their cubicle.
One should have a balaned approach to work. Even if I love my job, there are certain finer aspects for which I pay attention to. Probably it;s my favaorites music, games, food, a morning workout at the at gym. that's where smart work comes in. Engaing mind and body in what we love to do every momeny. As my boss quotes often, "if you got no mood to work, don't work lady. Coz u will spend more then 8 hours miserably doing what you can finish off in a couple of hours!" Qute true indeed! In this high tension world, where struggle for life is quite evident in every walk of life, one should realize oneself to the full potential. Being smart, managing priorities, intelligently balancing different aspects of life, being focused on career and emotional balance helps in a big way!.