Read Real Leaders Don't Boss for Free Online Page B

Figuring out the specific strengths and weaknesses of the leaders you know can help you in your own quest for real leadership. Keep in mind that if you model a certain behavior, others likely will follow your lead. Are your actions commensurate with your goals and ideals?
You Can Do It, Too
    Consider one of the 20th century’s greatest leaders, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led our country through one of its most difficult times despite his own personal ill health. FDR was a true servant leader who put the well-being of the country and its people—his “company” and its “employ-ees”—well ahead of his own. Roosevelt was elected president at the height of the Great Depression, and was able to inspire and guide the country through most of World War II. Roosevelt personally was wealthy, yet he was a master motivator of the masses who could inspire others by placing their well-being above his own, providing clear direction and goals, giving his team—the administration as well as the American people—thetools they needed to accomplish those goals, and then offering encouragement and moral support all along the way.
    To develop your own servant leadership potential, practice the art of sacrifice for others rather than thinking of having subordinates or followers. Champion your team, troops, or staff by always helping and promoting them. Set the most enviable example and let your actions demonstrate what serving others truly means. Take FDR’s lead: put the greater good of the organization above your own, set clear direction and goals for your organization and its people, never ask more of others than you do of yourself, and provide encouragement and praise along the way.
Takeaway
    Real leaders make profound differences in the lives of those around them, they help others achieve greatness in the workplace and in life spaces, and they boost professional and personal bottom lines in the process.
    Today’s leadership gap is very real. Employee satisfaction with its leaders is at an all-time low, middle managers aren’t satisfied with their bosses, and leaders admit their own behavior often is lacking.
    Real leadership is a 24/7 occupation and lifestyle.
    Real leaders do not seek the limelight. Rather, they embody the true qualities of effective leadership; they are always available, are never too busy to help others, and always go the extra mile.
    Poor leadership leads not only to unhealthy bottom lines, but to unhealthy employees, too.
    Leadership is not a birthright. Real leaders are nurtured and developed.
    Real leadership shouldn’t be only at the top of an organization; it must pervade all levels.
    Today’s workspace and marketplace are wired, global, and changing. That means leaders must change, too, or companies risk losing their competitive edge.
    Real leadership is not about amassing personal power; it’s about the ability to unleash the strengths of others and in turn create a culture of success.

 Chapter 2 

Real Leaders Don’t Boss
    My definition of leadership is the combination of vision and selfless consensus building.
    â€”Harold Edwards, president and CEO,
Limoneira Company
    Bosses certainly are not in short supply; real leaders are the elusive commodity. In the workplace and throughout life, each of us encounters leadership behaviors or organizational policies that we like or admire, and that we may try to adapt to our own business situations and lives. Conversely, we all know of, have seen, or have suffered firsthand from those bosses with not-so-admirable behaviors and policies that often are ineffective, counterproductive, and sometimes offensive. Of those people and their behaviors and policies we think, “Absolutely no way will I ever act that way!”
    Follow-through on that statement, however, may be another matter. We are usually taught to boss, not to lead, and in many cases, bosses are the most prevalent role models.