{"id":3607,"date":"2013-07-26T10:12:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-26T02:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elijahconsulting.com\/?page_id=3607"},"modified":"2016-11-25T16:13:09","modified_gmt":"2016-11-25T08:13:09","slug":"the-roots-of-leadership-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elijahconsulting.com\/the-roots-of-leadership-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The Roots Of Leadership."},"content":{"rendered":"
Reference blog post \u201cWant Good Fruits? Check Your Roots<\/i>!<\/i><\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u201d published 28 Apr 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/a>I think that one of the most fundamental roots of leadership is benevolence, or love. Benevolence is defined by Character First!<\/i> as \u201cGiving to others\u2019 basic needs without having as my motive personal reward\u201d. Leadership is all about relationships, and the more benevolence you have, the more people will be attracted to you, and to follow you. Of course, you need to have an acceptable level of competence as well, but competence can always be bought or hired. Benevolence is rare. You know the old saying, \u201cPeople don\u2019t care how much you know until they know how much you care\u201d. It\u2019s not just another tired old clich\u00e9, it\u2019s real, and if you want to be a good leader, you\u2019d better sit up and take notice!<\/span><\/p>\n Benevolence may seem to be something impractical when screened through the lenses of the world of business and leadership. After all, you do need to make money, right? Wrong. If that\u2019s your motive, your business is doomed to failure in the long run. You can squeeze money out of some greedy people, but you will ultimately fail because you\u2019ll run out of greedy people, or they\u2019ll swallow you up in turn! If, however, your motive is to deliver something good for people, then in the long run you will have a sustainable business. You just need to work really hard for the first few years and then see the fruits brought in by the bushel! Sounds like some MLM pitch? No! The difference is that you\u2019ll need to grow bigger and stronger so that you\u2019ll be able to work harder and deliver more and more value as time goes on! Contrary to popular belief, hard work isn\u2019t bad for you, nor does working hard exclude working smart. In fact, I find it hard to believe someone who says he doesn\u2019t work hard, he only works smart. What he does isn\u2019t work at all, it\u2019s just a good con job!<\/span><\/p>\n The main reason people find it hard to believe that benevolence is so essential to good leadership is that they have a very twisted view of what benevolence really is. Looking at the Character First!<\/i> definition prima facie<\/i>, one could easily be led to believe so. Let\u2019s take a closer look.<\/span><\/p>\n First, let\u2019s look at the motive, or rather, the seeming lack of one. \u201c\u2026without having as my motive personal reward<\/i>\u2026\u201d Do you know that people can smell selfish motives a mile off? Hmmm\u2026.then how is it that so many people can be duped by scams? The answer is found two paragraphs above \u2013 people are duped by scams because scams appeal to their victims\u2019 own greediness! If we do not have personal reward as our motive for being benevolent, or, better still, living in a state of benevolence, people will tend to trust us. With trust comes relationship. With relationship comes need. And with need comes financial reward. People do know that we need to be sustained, and they will sustain us partly for their own benefit. So, are you really capable of being so unselfish? It\u2019s just a decision away!<\/span><\/p>\n