Third part in the series.
You can see part ONE here and part TWO here.
Part III It is incredibly rewarding. Your ideas get to be used and implemented. Leaders start things. They get the ball rolling.
Being a leader means that you are going to have to do things that MOST people do not want to do. You are going to have to stand up and say things that most people are afraid to say. And you are going to have to believe things that most people do not want to believe. And for the long term you are going to have to have the courage to stick to what you believe in and follow it through to completion.
Sometimes you are going to have to embarrass yourself. [Bring up audience member for example.]
You are going to have to put yourself in front of your friends and your foes and tell them “I believe this is what we should be doing, and this is where we should be going”. They might ridicule you and put you down. They might tell you that what you want to do cannot be done.
People have tried it before and have failed. But you have to have faith in yourself and your ideas. Sometimes you may be the only one that does. Leadership is scary sometimes.
Here is an example of family leadership: My wife and I had decided that we were going to take a different direction than all our friends had taken. We were going to go into business for ourselves. I had to visit another business in Sacramento, California that I was going to be doing some work for. As I was laying on the bed in the hotel room thinking about what I was getting ready to do – to become a leader/entrepreneur this panic overwhelmed my body all sudden. I remember that it came over me like a wave starting from the tips of my toes and consuming me all the way to my head. I started having doubts about whether I could do it or not. What if I fail? What if I fail so badly that it hurts my family? What if we run out of money and we cannot eat?
These are the things you have to look at and find a way around as a leader. You have to know that you might fail, but you have to believe in your soul that you will succeed.