Being a leader is about leading your own mind's logic and leading your heart's reason. Be cognizant of the decisions that your mind and heart make, and your life will be much more meaningful and rewarding.

Being a leader, whether you are the CEO, the admiral, the general, the chairperson, or the director for an office or two, is difficult. As a leader you must always appear to be in command, even on those days when you struggle with the pressures of the job. You must be confident. You must be decisive. You must smile. You must laugh. You must engage with your employees and be thankful for their work. You must have the look of a person in charge. You must instill in your men and women a sense of pride that their leader can handle any problem.
As a leader you can't have a bad day. You must never look beaten, no matter the circumstance. If you sulk, if you hang your head, if you whine or complain about the leaders above you or the followers below you, then you will lose the respect of your men and women, and the attitude of despair will spread like wildfire.

What is a leader?” people ask me. My simple answer: “Someone unafraid to take charge. Someone people respond to and are willing to follow.” I believe that leaders must be born with a natural connection and affinity to others, which then must be encouraged and developed by parents and teachers and molded by training, experience, and mentoring. You can learn to be a better leader. And you can also waste your natural talents by ceasing to learn and grow.

Being the leader means you hold the highest rank, either by earning it, good fortune or navigating internal politics. Leading, however, means that others willingly follow you — not because they have to, not because they are paid to, but because they want to.

The leaders in every walk of life decide quickly, and firmly. That is the major reason why they are leaders. The world has the habit of making room for the man whose words and actions show that he knows where he is going.

Being the leader means you hold the highest rank, either by earning it, good fortune or navigating internal politics. Leading, however, means that others willingly follow you—not because they have to, not because they are paid to, but because they want to.

In the end, leadership is a choice. Rank, authority, and even responsibility can be inherited or assigned, whether or not an individual desires or deserves them. Even the mantle of leadership occasionally falls to people who haven't sought it. But actually leading is different. A leader decides to accept responsibility for others in a way that assumes stewardship of their hopes, their dreams, and sometimes their very lives. It can be a crushing burden, but I found it an indescribable honor.

It is through service. The only way to truly be a leader, stay ahead and be on top of your game is to be in service to others. This is the only way you can truly discover salient needs and find ways to meet them. In my case, it was the health of the people. In meeting these needs, you become a resource person. People come to you for advice, direction and help. Another name for one who does all the above, if you ask me, is a Leader. A great man once said, “If service is beneath you, leading is beyond you.

There is no leader and there is no led. A leader, if one chooses to identify one, has to be a cultivator rather than a manufacturer. He has to provide the soil and the overall climate and the environment in which the seed can grow. One wants permissive individuals who do not have a compelling need to reassure themselves that they are leaders through issuing instructions to others; rather they set an example through their own creativity, Love of nature and dedication to what one may call the 'scientific method.' These are the leaders we need in the field of education and research

Never, ever give up regardless of the adversity. If you are a leader, a fellow who other fellows look to, you have to keep going. How will you know if you have succeeded? True satisfaction comes from getting the job done. The key to successful leadership is to earn respect- not because of rank or position, but because you are a leader of character. In the military, the president of the United States may nominate you as a commissioned officer, but he cannot command for you the loyalty and confidence of your soldiers. Those you must earn by giving loyalty to your soldiers and providing for their welfare. Properly led and treated right, your lowest-ranking soldier is capable of extraordinary acts of valor. Ribbons, medals, and accolades, then, are poor substitutes to the ability to look yourself in the mirror every night and know that you did your best.

Leaders are the ones who run headfirst into the unknown. They rush toward the danger. They put their own interests aside to protect us or to pull us into the future. Leaders would sooner sacrifice what is theirs to save what is ours. And they would never sacrifice what is ours to save what is theirs. This is what it means to be a leader. It means they choose to go first into danger, headfirst toward the unknown. And when we feel sure they will keep us safe, we will march behind them and work tirelessly to see their visions come to life and proudly call ourselves their followers.

1) Have a Vision and Develop a Game Plan. A leader must be able to provide a clear vision of a transformed future. Vision encompasses strategy and goal-setting, but is more than simply having a plan. Vision is a passionate commitment to creatively closing the gap between the present reality and the desired future.
2) Communicate Your Vision. A vision is useless unless it can be shared with others. A leader must possess a wide range of communication skills- articulating issues, listening to what others have to say, and understanding diverse perspectives.
3) Hire Excellent People and Delegate Authority and Responsibility. Leaders develop the networks, relationships, and culture that form a community. In healthy communities, everyone can find meaning and motivation. A "team" attitude exists and individuals are eager to cooperate for the common good. Collaboration makes a community greater than the sum of its parts and enables a vision to be realized. In short, this is the crucial idea of empowerment at all levels.
4) Make Decisions and Take Risks. True leaders must have the courage to act. They take risks and make tough decisions. Without risk there is no progress. Leaders must be willing to make bold moves and embrace the seemingly impossible.
5) Admit Mistakes and Apologize When Necessary. A leader who encourages risk-taking must understand that mistakes will be made. A leader should quickly recoginze mistakes, apologize, and remedy the situation. Accountable leaders learn from their mistakes and make changes. Being accountable means being in charge of your choices.
6) Be Trustworthy and Care about Others. Visions are based on values. For good leaders, the means are just as important as the end. They make improvements with integrity, taking the right actions for the right reasons. They know that trust and credibility are central to the leadership process.
7) Never Give Up. Never give up. Work hard. Those simple statements are at the heart of successful leadership. The best leaders love what they're doing and put everything they have into their efforts. Leaders make commitments and have the determination to see them through.
8) Have a Sense of Humor. Good leaders aren't afraid to laugh with others and at themselves. They maintain a healthy sense of balance and perspective and know that humor can sometimes defuse a tense situation.

I began by reducing my own salary to $ 1.00 a year. Leadership means setting an example. When you find yourself in a position of leadership, people follow your every move. I don’t mean they invade your privacy, although there’s some of that, too. But when the leader talks, people listen. And when the leader acts, people watch. So you have to be careful about everything you say and everything you do.

Leadership is not a matter of ordering people around but of first taking action yourself. By initiating action yourself, you will win others' trust, and they, in turn, will take action.