Effortless Leadership... Part III

For the last two weeks, we have been delving on the state of
effortlessness and how it applies to "leadership".

At LinkedIn, I was fortunate to receive several good points on leading
without even trying.

Certainly, what comes naturally is "effortlessness" and that speaks
from leadership to breathing. Can you imagine if we have to "really"
exert effort in breathing?? Well, this only indicates a weak heart or
lung, in short, poor health.

We can say the same about Leadership. If we have to push something
too hard just to get things done, then it signifies that we are failing in
some areas... like, planning, analysis, people skills and so on, putting
a dent on our Leadership abilities that then needs some quiet reflection.

Even as pointed out in the book "How To Become CEO"...
Don't take work home from the office.

...your home hours are for listening to your family, studying, planning,
expanding your interests, and pitching batting practice to your kids.
If you always have to take work home you are: (a) not managing your
time properly; (b) boring; (c) wasting your precious nonwork hours;
and (d) all of the above.

A very busy, and very good, advertising executive was always bringing
home tons of work. Her elementary-school-age daughter, noting all
the extra work her mother felt compelled to do, asked her innocently,
"Mom, maybe you belong in a slower group?"

It is de rigueur for executives to take work home. But except for the
reading of unimportant memos and ancient history (a.k.a. monthly
reports), no real work is ever done. Your senior management may
note you don't take work home (even though you do bring your
briefcase) and decide to give you more projects and responsibilities.
And that's good.

Effortless Leadership should come in like breathing; but one more
thing though, "without love for life", breathing would be painful. Just
like in leading, if we do not love our work and everything in it, work
then becomes a burden.

One has to have "genuine" concern over what he does to make it
seem effortless. A Leader has to have "genuine" concern for his
followers to lead without even trying.

One of the greatest Leaders who ever lived stated the secret of his
Leadership in six words, as follows: "Kindness is more powerful
than compulsion."

LEADING BY SUGGESTING. Like "praising and asking", suggesting
subtlely clouds one's ego of being commanded to do something.

In some cases, suggesting is the combination of "praising and asking"
that it cleverly uses the knowledge and experiences of others to
forward an agenda.

Yet... suggesting is simply all about leading with kindness. About
realizing that we are dealing with people not robots; and with this
comes acknowledging their strengths and understanding their
weaknesses.

"No man can become a great Leader of men unless he has the milk
of human kindness in his own heart, and leads by suggestion and
kindness, rather than by force." - TLOS

To lead with kindness is to humbly yet confidently seek to improve
things in the eyes of your followers without losing sight of objectives.

Remember…
“You can not afford to suggest something which you do not believe."