The Secret to Successful Leadership

If you're leading, who is following? How important is it to you who's following, or how many?

This could be a clue to your success as a leader. Not how many peopel follow, but how concerned you are with who's following. A friend of mine recently put it into perspective this way:

I think every adult on earth has seen the movie "Forrest Gump" with Tom Hanks. Remember the part when he just starts running, and people start following him? Forrest Gump is like, well, whatever. He doesn't worry about who is behind him or what they're thinking about him, or what his butt looks like or how many people may have gottne tired and stopped following him. He is focused, and he runs...and runs...and runs.

Then one day, he's done running.

He stops running, turns around and there is a huge crowd following him. He is turning around to go home, and the crowd is like, "Wait! What are we supposed to do now?" HE doesn't really care what they do, becaues he was never doing it for them anyway.

That's what leadership is all about.

People are so starved for leadership today that they will follow anyone who seems confident enough to know where they are going. It doesn't necessarily matter what your cause is--if you are passionate about it adn you have a vision, there are people somewhere who will follow you.

But if you get caught up in your following or in the drama of your followers, that's when you take your eyes off the prize and things get sticky. If it becomes about YOU and not your GOAL, then you have a problem. And people will scatter like rats because if you STOP being the leader they're looking for, they will drop you like a hot potato and find someone else to follow.

Yeah, it's that simple.

So what's the answer?

Stay focused on your goal and keep moving forward. PEriod. Don't let anyone or anything stand in your way, and don't stop to look back. There will be plenty of time to admire how far you've come, once you've arrived at your destination. And you may be surprised to see how many people have followed you all the way, becaue you never lost sight of your goal.

My question for you today is this:
Do you know where you're going and are you willing to remain focused on your goal, no matter what? What single step can you take today that will move you closer to your goal?