About 25 years ago, after years working for various businesses, I became intrigued with why some Leaders were "successful" and others weren't. What made them different? What did they believe in? How did they think, talk and act? How did teams respond to different Leaders and why?
Working at different companies in various roles with leaders, teams, and employees, I identified consistencies between what you might call "good" leaders and those who never quite figured it out. I've observed and experienced many situations Leaders repeatedly found themselves in, how they handled these situations, what their employees said later in one off conversations, how the team responded and how things progressed over months and years.
During this same time, I was voraciously reading books, articles and other media from many sources on various philosophies of life - who we are, what's our purpose here, why do we struggle so much - trying to answer my internal questions. Unexpectedly, much of what I learned not only helped me personally but had a profound effect on how I worked with these Leaders and teams.
From all this, I can say without a doubt, the more effective Leaders naturally incorporate certain identifiable beliefs, attitudes and behaviors that lead directly to their success. I can also say without a doubt, there are inherent traits these leaders have that help tremendously, and if a leader doesn't have these traits naturally, they are at a disadvantage. This doesn't mean they can't become an effective leader, as we all have the capacity to learn and grow, but it's a much greater challenge.
Another key observation I'll share is each one of us, whether or not you think you are - you are in a leadership role today, right now. Most importantly each of us is the leader of our own life. Most of us are leaders or co-leaders of our families and our children. Many of us are leaders in community groups, youth programs or other groups we're involved with. We're all Leaders in some respect and we should own this.
In my book, I discuss these and many other topics from my personal experience (not from third-party information, research teams or simple interviews) throughout my 40+ year career. These are not only valuable regarding Leadership in business, but in the more important areas of our personal lives as human beings.