This is a guest blog for J V Crum III, business coach, host of the Conscious Millionaire Podcast and best-selling author of “Conscious Millionaire: Grow Your Business by Making a Difference”. Each guest blogger is a top successful entrepreneur who writes on areas such as: social entrepreneurship, conscious business, how to become a successful entrepreneur, online marketing, business solutions, startup, business opportunities, entrepreneur training, and business coaching.
Our upbringing and every facet of life as we grow from infant to 18 years old and beyond, teaches and reinforces to us that we should conform. Conform in this sense of the word means to follow a defined path, such as go to school, study hard, pass your exams, graduate, get a job, advance in your career and retire. That’s not a bad lesson to learn, and it serves many well, but for some, it’s the wrong path to follow.
As we’ve all heard, in life there are leaders and followers. Society absolutely needs both to survive. Without followers, there can be no leaders, so the defined path I described above, is necessary for us to operate as individuals and communities. It’s a path followers and some leaders can take to ensure their place. However, for other leaders, the dynamic game-changers; this path doesn’t always serve them well.
For dynamic game-changers, there’s always a fire and burning inside that compels them to change, to disrupt the norm, to affect what is currently in existence and create an impact. It’s not because they want to be anti-establishment (at least not always), but rather, usually because they see opportunities; the see a need for change. In fact, for these individuals, seeing a need for change isn’t as important as executing that change and driving it forward.
So far, until now in the blog post, we’ve taken a community and laid out a path. We then divided it between leaders and followers, only to further highlight leaders who are disruptive. There is however, one last segmentation that I’d like to share, and that’s disruptive leaders who are self-aware and as such, effective leaders. In this regard, self-aware doesn’t just mean they know how they present themselves and are perceived, but rather, they know their strengths and weaknesses; more so, they complement those with others who can strengthen them.
Leaders who are self-aware and able to form teams by supplementing their weaknesses, are leaders who are focused on the outcome, the success of their vision over the task of leading and the glory of winning. They’re focused on the benefits that manifest once the vision is achieved. Becoming self-aware is as simple as taking an assessment, getting personal feedback from friends or lived ones, or just reflecting on your past successes and failures to learn what you did well and what you can improve on. Being objective though the process, truly enables you to emerge from it with the answers that can change your life and approach moving forward.
In my life, I’ve developed my leadership style by passing through each phase of this evolution I’ve just identified. Currently as I work on several projects, I continue to toggle between various phases, depending on the project and my business partners for each. I continue to learn and develop as a person, with my teams and as we project successes. It’s both rewarding, and fulfilling at the same time, and if done right, make you a better leader and person.
So I encourage you, as you, decide what path, if any, you want to follow; then take the steps to become the best person you can be on that chosen path. The rewards will be bountiful, both personally and professionally.
Bio: Dr. Ty Richardson resides in San Francisco, CA where he is involved in the start-up movement. He holds a Bachelors degree in Integrated Studies focused on Advertising and a Master’s degree in International Commerce and Public Policy, and a Ph.D in Organizational Management focused on Generation X and Y. He has traveled the world, been an executive at a Fortune 500, and started 3 companies, but remains dedicated to his passion which is helping people. His mission has always been to travel, to learn and experience life. He lives by the simple principle of: dream it, live it! He wants to help teach the next generation of achievers and change makers that is is ok to follow your dream, to fail along the way, as long as the lessons are incorporated into their life somehow.
Websites: www.justty.com www.yoproglobal.org www.eypglobal.com www.oneglobal.community
