Three secrets of leadership - LOVE, ETHICS and FAITH.

Recently I was invited to make a presentation for students 17-20 years about Electronics Technician career. I promptly agreed but proposed that the theme includes aspects of the job market as the students will take part very soon. Throughout the presentation I added three words on separate slides that I consider crucial to the success of any person either in the professional or personal areas, especially for this new talented generation that will be leaders in their sectors in a short future and… future arrives very quickly. These words are LOVE, FAITH and ETHICS.

LOVE (in this case means care, respect, acceptance, inclusion, tolerance but not sex): We have to work with LOVE or even more than this, we have to live with LOVE as it is the first step on the ladder on our lives not only as a leader but in all areas of relationship. We are all sensitive to changes in the workplace that causes changes in our behavior as well and we need to recognize who is in help of us to giving support to bypass the difficulties. We need also to work to create an environment in which we respect the differences and understand the weaknesses and powerful of our colleagues (and ours) without hurting the relationship. Reading this article may sound simple or easy, but it is not. We all have our own desires and dreams and we mostly put them upfront the game we have to play bringing unnecessary complication. Okay, we mostly created a new problem! Treating others with LOVE does not mean of doing what they want, but treat them with dignity, with the clear intention of developing them toward their goals and aligned with company goals.

It is important to be persistent and demonstrate LOVE for our coworkers. Be honest and say clearly what is right and what is wrong, help them whenever possible and in whatever is possible it is also a demonstration of LOVE. Certainly we have no time to lose and the companies have the pressure for early results (every day or every minute) leading us to remove this feeling from our daily actions. This is not 100% the truth! Even in difficult times we must always bear in mind that the person on the other side deserves to be treated with fairly (LOVE). Our personal life is not different; in fact many of our disagreements in the workplace are derived from our behavior in society that arises with more intensity when we are subjected to the weight of our responsibilities with the company we work for. The challenges at workplace are mere magnifiers of our feelings and desires, and come to spice up the moment. We need to get out of this mess and pay attention to the essence of the problem and solve it. We have to be able to say NO with LOVE.

Working with LOVE it is the first secret to build up a true leadership.

ETHICS: It is a MUST! It is part of our survival manual for any professional and foremost for the leaders. It's like a textbook where we know what is right and wrong but not based on our distorted view of everything we have been watching on TV or we have read on newspapers, but for what it is really right. It's as if our decisions were taken in front of an audience composed by parents, relatives, our children, best friends and even a clone of us sitting and watching us taking daily decisions. Nowadays the good examples of past generations no longer represent anything and the (past) act of closing the deal by words it was left behind and became a joke. We are all immersed in a sea of scams, people that wants to take advantage of everything at any dealing and bad conduct of politicians and governments being some of them the "head" of these bad examples. Working with ETHICS is to do what is right rather than our personal point of view or regardless of the outcome. Again it is not an easy task but it must be the bottom line for all of us. Each situation must be viewed based on ETHICS so we will have a most fair and equal society.

Supervisors, managers and directors are fixed targets for these types of situations involving unethical deals and should be kept away. Certainly the path to personal growth will be much more difficult but the win will always have a very special flavor. It will be an honest and glorious victory that can be told to sons, nephews and grandchildren. Thankfully, there are many good examples that still survive the temptations of the money every day. These temptations that come from all sides are served to us in a banquet that if we delight, we will certainly sell our peace until the end of our lives. ETHICS training begins at home where the good examples must happen, but our check is on the streets, in social life at school, at work and during our leisure time. ETHICS is the second key to leadership.

FAITH: We must believe in ourselves, in what is on our side, in our school, in our company, in our team and also believe in something higher, something that brings our convictions and certainties that we can be better every day, on every action and attitude. Our FAITH has to be firm, unconditional and eternal. Dedicating part of our time to ourselves and believing in our accomplishments, believing they might happen and believing in the best we can offer to the one that is on our side. Make plans and put them into practice. We should seek for FAITH until it happens to us, start passing trust, honesty, and truth and valuing the relationship not as a return of a deal. Demonstrate that believing in us, we believe in others as well.

At work we are checked at each step by the contingency of right execution of the rules set, but that does not mean people do not trust us and (we) leaders must be very attentive to the needs of attending company goals and the desires or needs of our employees. Having FAITH is an act of courage and righteousness; demonstrate FAITH is to show to the other that he needs also to believe that everything is possible; that he needs to identify his most deeply desires and put them out to leverage his driving force. Having Faith is a way to start the race thinking on the finish line, one step after the other; it is the source to continue celebrate every barrier that arises in front of you and make sure that many are still to come till you get the finish line. It is a way of believing in your team and knows that they are the engine of development and creation of solutions that your business needs. FAITH, this is the third secret to success in leadership.

Everything else that happens in your leadership must be built based on these three secrets and you must be sure it will last forever even for those will not work with you anymore. Training, networking, entrepreneurship, diversity, emotional balance, professional growth, commitment, motivation, teamwork... will be built over LOVE, ETHICS and FAITH.

Think about and practice LOVE, ETHICS and FAITH!

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