The trademark of great leaders

To start with, I cannot thank enough everyone—who made the last week’s article “there are no traffic jams on the extra-mile” go viral through social media. You and I were able to get in touch with the length and breadth of our cherished and treasured country, Nigeria and beyond. I got phone calls from almost every State in Nigeria and I received mails from some African countries. For the umpteenth time, I sincerely do thank you! Let’s do more this week. Yes, we can!

Many years ago, I got to understand that I needed more than my own echelon of knowledge and wisdom—to move from where I was to where I am today. And to be able to move from where I am to where I desire to be, I will still need more than my current level of wisdom and knowledge. How did I access a higher level of knowledge and wisdom to move from where I was to where I am and how do I access a higher level of knowledge and wisdom to move from where I am to where I desire to be? It is very simple. Each time I buy and read through relevant books written by those who are ahead of me in my field of purpose and do what their books contain, I am in point of fact accessing a higher level of knowledge and wisdom. This is how I have been able to get here and this is how I am going to be able to get to where I dream to be in the days to come.

You want to become wiser than your age, level of knowledge and wisdom? Then start devouring the materials of those who are ahead of you in your field of purpose. When I broodingly and meticulously read through a book written by a man—who has been in my field of assignment for like forty years and I intentionally do what the book contains, it means I have become forty years older than my age!

What I am sharing with you now will make a great leader out of you in the days to come, on the condition that you’d do it. Look for conferences that are put together by those who are well ahead of you in both knowledge and wisdom, and pay for those conferences to listen to them (those who are ahead of you in your field of business) and make a deliberate effort to do what they teach you. Also, buy and read through books written by those who are wiser than you and do what their books contain. By doing these and more, you are going to become wiser than your age. This strategy is going to surely help you to get to where you desire to be faster than those who are not practicing what I am teaching you today.

Let us move on to the business before us for today. True leaders see twice! Twice? Yes, twice. They can see the invisible before it becomes visible. They are called leaders, because they are capable of seeing things before others see them. And they can see greatness in people before it becomes known to others. This is what helps them to lead the pack, always.

Leaders do not see things and people as they are, they only see them as they can become. When you look at a true leader, you are likely going to call him or her mad. Why? Because he or she does not see as commonplace and humdrum folks see. A leader will look at a boy struggling with drugs and see an oil magnate in him. Others would write him off, but he would never write him off, because he can see what others cannot see!

On the condition that you cannot see the invisible, it means you cannot lead the pack in your field. A leader can travel 100 years into the future and come back to the present and start speaking (and building collaboratively with relevant people ) about what would happen—a century up the road of time. Those who cannot see what he is seeing will not be able to see eye to eye with him. Take for instance, in the field of information technology; can you see the future of it? If you cannot, you can never become a leader in that unique field. Also, are you a fashion designer? Can you see the future of that business? If you cannot, you likewise will not be able to lead the pack in that money-spinning field of business. Remember, leaders see things and people twice. Leaders are able to see first what is invisible and later work-hard with relevant people to make it become visible and see it the second time when others are equally seeing it.

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A few weeks ago, I spoke on leadership to a group of industrialists and would be industrialists in the beautiful city of Lagos. I was able to open their eyes to this truth: “if you are not gifted to lead, do not try to be an entrepreneur. If you do, you’d fail. Entrepreneurs are leaders!” Many people fizzle out of business today, because they can neither see the invisible nor hear the inaudible. When you only see it when others see it, those who can see the invisible and hear the inaudible will soon knock you out of business.

If you do not have the eye of vision to see the invisible, you are truly blind and it will be totally impossible to lead folks into what you cannot see. Remember, vision speaks of the ability to see what the future looks like in your field of business. This is what it means to be visionary. And visionaries have an ability—not only to see the future, but to experience it before it arrives. Leaders go ahead of their followers. They live in the present and future, and excel in the art of interpreting for their followers what they see and experience there.

Lastly, this is the trademark of great leaders: a clear understanding of what has been (hindsight); projecting into the future to see what it could be (foresight); and using the two to determine what must be done today (insight)!

See you where great leaders are found!