If you live long enough, you will meet great leaders. Most people believe that leaders are born and few believe that they themselves can become some kind of leader.
I am now a believer that the old axiom, “leaders are born, not made” is false.

Leadership is not easy, but it can be learned. Leadership is demanding and can be frustrating. However, leadership is noble and rewarding. Therefore, it is important not to approach your leadership role with an arrogant attitude.

There are nine facts about leadership that we can all aspire to have. I have found that these characteristics are evident in the most ordinary and extraordinary leaders of our time. People like Gandhi, Martin L King and Mother Teresa possess these nine qualities.

You don’t need any dire circumstances to propel you into a leadership role. However, for anyone to become a great leader, he must have a love for people and a desire to improve the lives of the people he meets.

For example, Mother Teresa’s love for the people who lived in the slums of India inspired her to spend sixty years feeding and clothing the poor. Her love propelled her into a leadership role in which India’s presidents, dignitaries and people were willing to sit in packed halls just to hear what she had to say.

The second and third characteristics of leadership will challenge prevailing sentiment and emphasize learning. Martin L. King knew that the nation could no longer treat one segment of the population differently from the rest.

Martin L King uses his great scholarly oratory by invoking these words from our Constitution: “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. ….Martin L King challenged the status quo of the United States in 1960 for the betterment of society.

To be a leader, you must be willing to challenge the status quo and continue to educate yourself.

The fourth and fifth characteristics are driven commitment and vision beyond current circumstances. Gandhi knew that the Indians had to be self-sufficient if they wanted to survive in the future. Gandhi’s commitment to the Indian people that they would one day be independent of the monarch of England was a vision that few Indians believed or felt possible.

However, Gandhi’s forward thinking, commitment and sacrifice are the reasons why India is independent from British colonial rule.

The seventh and eighth truths have to do with the people around you. “Most people will follow a leader who can clearly articulate their WHY” It begins with the WHY (Simon Sinek) in life. Most can tell you what they do and how they do it, but very few can tell you “WHY” they do what they do.

Let’s go back to the three leaders I mentioned earlier, Mother Teresa, Martin L King and Gandhi. Mother Teresa’s “WHY” was feeding the poor, Martin L King’s “WHY” and Gandhi the injustice of people. The three of them knew that one person couldn’t do it, so they inspired others to participate.

Finally, the ninth and most crucial truth is YOU. I include myself too. “You make a difference”. The truth about leadership (James M Kouses Barry Z Posner) we must believe in ourselves. We must believe that we can make a difference and move in that direction. We must believe that we have all the attributes to challenge the status quo and be in love with the desire to change the world around us.