Great Leaders need to be Winners

Maybe I should restate and say that "Great Leaders need to act like Winners". So what is this all about? Well, one can argue that, to be a great leader, you have to have followers...people who want to follow you.

Let's think about this for a minute. I submit that people like to be involved with the best...the best deals, the best meals, the best gadgets, the best doctors, etc. Can you imagine saying "I go to the 2nd best surgeon around!" People don't want to think they have to settle for 2nd or 3rd choice and even if they realize it, they don't want to admit it and often will move to rectify the situation.

That takes me back to the theme of this post: people like to follow winners. Just like I discussed above, team members don't want to brag about being on the 2nd best team or having a 2nd or 3rd rate boss. Even if it's not a completely accurate belief or assumption, your folks want to follow a winner.

Is this a problem? What if you don't always win? Is that OK? Sure it is. You don't have to win every time to be a winner and definitely not to act like a winner.

This might beg the question, what does a winning leader look like or what traits does a winning leader display? Some traits might be:

• Quiet confidence: You act like you know what you're doing (see my post on this).
• A positive attitude: Need I say more?
• Treating team members like winners: People not only like to follow winners, they want to BE winners, too.
• Managing by influence: Instead of with a heavy hand.

If you act like a winner and treat your people like winners...you most probably are a winner and life's a whole lot better when you come at it from that angle.

What traits do you think a winning leader portrays?