How A Leader Chooses His PATHS

Many times, the eventual success or failure, relevance or irrelevance, effectiveness or lack thereof, is decided by the decisions made by a leader. These instances must be differentiated from those which can be deliberated slowly, but rather refer to those times, someone must decide, which option to pursue, in a timely manner! Robert Frost famously wrote of the two roads/ paths meeting, and asks which one will someone take. In my four decades of identifying, qualifying, training, developing, and consulting to thousands of actual and/ or potential leaders, I have tried to enhance their judgment, and ability to analyze, so as to possess the necessary wisdom, and self - confidence, to select the best possible course of action, at that precise point in time. Understand, this is not an exact science, but rather a decision - making process, where a real leader must choose the PATHS he will pursue!

1. Priorities; planning; perspective: If you decide to be a leader, begin by clearly developing a set of priorities, which you feel will, both, best serve your group in the short - term, as well as enhance its sustainability, into the future. Only, then, will you be able to pursue quality leadership planning, developing a meaningful, relevant strategy, and an action plan, to get where you want to be. Beware, however, a leader's enemy is often his personal perspective, if he permits it to skew his view, rather than seeing the bigger picture!

2. Attitude; attention; aims: Leaders must focus on their aims, and make certain they are positive and worthwhile! How will one take his constituents along, on the journey of their lifetimes? Will he focus on what needs to be done, or limit his attention, to a narrower, often - prejudiced, set of circumstances and possibilities? This requires possessing a genuine, positive attitude!

3. Timely; tendencies; trends: Procrastination is the enemy, and often the carcinogen, which destroys a group's sustainability! Great leaders understand the tendencies, and take advantage of those trends, which will enhance his pursuit of the best course of action!

4. Healing; heritage; head/ heart: We often observe someone, who is elected to office, after a negative, blame - and - complain, adversarial campaign! While, unfortunately, that campaign strategy often enjoys short - term popularity, it ignores the basics of true, effective leadership, and hinders the ability, to properly determine which path to pursue! Remember, meaningful leadership requires a head/ heart balance, where logic and emotion, are both considered!

5. Strengths; sustainable system: If you become a leader, identify your individual, as well as the organization's, strengths and weaknesses. Hopefully, you will be able to rely upon your strengths, to help determine which path to choose. The goal should be to create, develop and implement, a quality, sustainable system!

Leaders must be ready, willing and able to make decisions, and assume responsibility for the choices. The PATHS a leader opts for, will often determine his legacy!