Around the United States of America

American Leadership

Leadership is the key to all Human Effort involving more than one person. We understand we are Leaders of ourselves and everyone with whom we come in contact. Our attitudes and ideas can only make a difference if we are able to influence the actions of another person through Leadership. We must ensure that the ideas and attitudes we project to our Family, Friends and Neighbors are truly the ones we want to be remembered by; for life is short but memories are long. The World has long looked to The United States for Leadership in Politics, Industry and Freedom of the Individual.

Background
Leadership is the mechanism that moves more than one person in the same direction for the same "Cause".
The World looks to the United States to provide Leadership in World Affairs.

First let us look up the word Lead; from Merriam-Webster:
"To guide someone or something along a way"

Now let us look at the word Leader:
"A person who has commanding authority or influence"

Leadership is a subject frequently discussed but very hard to describe or prescribe. The ability of one human being to influence another is more of an "art" than a "science". People choose to either follow another or follow themselves in everything they do. 

Leadership is at work in our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces; everywhere we find more than one person in contact with another.

Family Tradition
Parents are the people who generally offer the most lasting leadership influence to their children. The attitudes and behaviors taught at home by parents, in the end become those things passed to children through the Leadership Role of Parents over Children. These attitudes and behaviors become the instinctive internal "Code" that a man or woman uses to Lead themselves.

Leadership Characteristics
All Great Leaders have certain Characteristics in common:
1. They have Principles and Values.
2. They have a Passion for what they believe.
3. They have a Vision of where they are headed.
4. They know how to achieve their Vision.
5. They understand the need to Influence others into action.
6. They know how to influence others into action.
7. They do not give up their goal of achieving their Vision.
8. They move forward with Confidence and Resolve.

Leadership Styles
In general there are many Leadership "Styles". Because of the many styles, people become confused in the execution of Leadership. Many people equate Leadership Style to Leadership itself. We may copy "The John Wayne" style for instance but really not have a clear Vision of where we are headed, or a strong Resolve to do so. We may fail to motivate people to action through lack of effective communication, and believe that all we must do is act like "John Wayne" in action. 

All Leadership Styles are based around the personality of the Leader. This comes into play in Step 6 above: Leaders know how to influence others into action. Without the other Steps, the real work of Leadership is left undone. In the end we all must do the homework required by all the steps, and then use our personality in adopting a style that will effectively influence others to action. Through our personality, we communicate our Passion, Vision and Know How to Motivate others to Action. Copying another person's Leadership "Style" that doesn't fit our personality will not work. We will not be able to motivate people into action pretending to be someone we are not. 

The "John Wayne" Style of Leadership is so respected because The Actor demonstrated all the above seven Characteristics, along with using his personality to put his "Style" into the Leadership effort.

Additional Links
There are many resources for leadership on the Internet; some are provided below:

Center for Creative Leadership 
The National Outdoor Leadership School 
Lessons in Leadership 
Be A Leader 
The Motivational Speaker