The Fourth Step to Real Leadership: Excellence

The Leadership Enrichment LIFE-cycle (LEL-c) culminates in its fourth and final stage:

EXCELLENCE.

This is where your renewed and strengthened Leadership Platform is fully leveraged. It's the point where your personal growth translates into organizational achievement and prepares you to begin the cycle anew.

A crucial theme in this stage is the focus on others. As the book emphasizes, your leadership becomes most powerful when it is for and with others.

The Emotional Connector: ACHIEVEMENT

The driving emotion of this stage is ACHIEVEMENT. But true achievement in leadership isn't about winning at all costs or being preoccupied with power and prestige. According to the research cited in Take Your Lead, achievement-oriented thinking is characterized by:

A Passion for Personal Excellence, Not Perfection: Excellence is the healthy, never-ending pursuit of getting better at who you are and what you do. Perfectionism, in contrast, is frustrating and paralyzing.

A Belief in Cause and Effect: The conviction that your efforts, not luck or fate, determine outcomes. This means setting your own goals and taking accountability without falling into the trap of self-blame.

A Desire and Design for Feedback: Actively seeking input from others and the system to know how you are doing.

The Performance Waypoint: LEAD

This brings us to the ultimate performance waypoint: to LEAD. This is where you give your best away for the benefit of others. The book champions the Servant Model of Leadership, where the needs and interests of your followers are placed above your own. A servant leader understands that to lead, one must serve, and to serve, one must first be a follower. This is the point where you leverage your platform by making sacrifices, creating value with your team, and empowering others to become leaders themselves. This act of giving yourself away is what creates a lasting legacy and, in turn, provides the fresh perspectives and new information needed to spark the LEL-c all over again.

The journey to "Real Leadership" is not a destination but a cycle of continual renewal. By building your platform and engaging in the LIFE-cycle, you can move beyond your title and become a leader who makes a genuine, positive, and lasting impact.

To explore the complete framework for building your Leadership Platform and mastering the Leadership Enrichment LIFE-cycle, get your copy of Take Your Lead: The Motivational Leadership Book for Motivated Leaders today!