Tell powerful stories. 強力な物語を話す。

You will naturally need to take the lead on all kinds of mundane matters. At your weekend English class, you will naturally need to actively ask questions about grammar, vocabulary, or pronunciation. Many people at your class are passive, waiting for the teacher to do some magic and put English abilities inside their head. Not you. You know that the only person that can achieve your ambitions is you. Your future is in your hands. You take the lead on your English education because you know that nobody else can or will.

You also know that you’re not going to find a nice boyfriend or girlfriend waiting around inside your house. Getting a date isn’t like fishing; it’s like hunting. Vetting the king or queen of your future empire is on you.

The normal course of your career will force leadership opportunities on you. Your boss will ask for someone to translate a document into English, and you’ll do it. Someone will ask you your English studying advice. Your new king or queen will ask you what you want for dinner.

Over time, the weight of the responsibility you take will increase. With each new decision, the stakes will be raised. Friends will ask you for life advice. You’ll start leading bigger and bigger projects at work. You’ll have more kids and a bigger house to manage. Your network of business friends will ask you to collaborate on projects.

Leadership will be thrust upon you, whether you want it or not. When leadership opportunities arise

You’ve been practicing for this moment.

When you see a problem, you fix it.
When a member of your network has a question, you find the answer.
When a member of your network needs some help, you help or get help.
When you see an opportunity to build your network up, you build.

You’ve been practicing leadership from the beginning. That’s why more and more people looked to you for leadership as you’ve grown.

But as a leader, you know you can’t do everything yourself. You need to help others in your network develop their leadership skills. An emperor needs his generals. You continue to role model for them the best example that you can imagine. When the time is right and an opportunity presents itself, you delegate a leadership opportunity to one of your generals. You give your people a chance to shine.

The essence of leadership is to give energy to people and principles you believe in. You will develop your own leadership style, but successful leaders need to follow certain guidelines.

For example, if you want to get the most out of the people you lead, you should avoid criticizing. Instead, find the things that they are doing right and bring attention to them. Oversize your attention to the parts of them you like and totally ignore the bad. Remember: People want to feel important. If they do something that you like, tell them! Make them feel important! Bring attention to the great thing they did and tell them to keep up the good work!

As much as possible, ignore their weaknesses. Bring attention to when they appear to fix their weaknesses. Attention gives people, as well as their words and actions, energy and importance. In fact, nothing will feel as important as when you give attention to it.

That’s a warning: Be careful what you give attention to as a leader! A leader’s attention has power. Use your power wisely.