This seems like a pretty easy question right off the bat. Many people would simply answer that if you are nice, polite, and intelligent, people will want to follow or listen to you. However, to those people I am quick to bring up that sometimes the nicest people can't persuade even the dullest person to follow their cause, because there is something almost scary about a person that is too nice. Even the most polite person still has trouble gathering a following at times, and the smartest people in the world can't always find people to back up their causes. So how can you insure that others will willingly follow and support you?
It is a combination of different skills, and this combination has to be finely tuned. Imagine each different characteristic or attribute as a knob on a giant control panel. You can mix and match the values of these knobs, and therefore, you are given an endless possibilities of possible talentry. Some people may be really good at public speaking, but they lack in the one on one conversations. Others can be really personable, but they can't communicate to a large group. The trick to being someone that other people want to follow is by finding the right combination of settings that your "knobs" should be set on. So how do we find this combination?
Well first of all we need to practice. Practice makes perfect right? Well not necessarily, but it does make your further attempts a lot easier. But then we stumble along the problem of how do you practice different lifestyles? We don't wake up one day and decide to adjust our character to certain degrees. So, I want to lay out the three most important characteristics to monitor and practice in order to make other people want to follow you.
1) Confidence
This is the most important character trait, and it is also the hardest because in today's society, confidence is so easily mistaken as ego. There is a huge difference between ego and confidence; however, we can cross over from one to the other without even knowingly trying. It is a known fact that people follow people who seem to have their life together. People are attracted to people who are confident and sure of themselves. Note that the last statement does not read that people are attracted to people who are so sure of themselves that they do heed advice (egotism). The confidence factor is one of those traits that has to be just right. You have to be extremely confident and comfortable with yourself, without coming across as egotistical, and that is very hard to do.
2) Funny
This trait is something that you either have or you don't, because everyone knows how annoying the person is that tries to be Mr. Funny. For those of us who did not get the funny gene, we are at a disadvantage, and therefore have to find other ways to make up for this lacking. However, lacking the ability to always make people laugh is not a bad thing. If you are the class clown, the funny person, or the person in the group that everyone turns to for a laugh, then it is much harder to be taken seriously. Also, if you are that person, being funny almost becomes an expectation, and that can be a lot of work in and of itself. Saying this, people usually tend to follow individuals who make themselves feel good.
3) Intelligence
People listen and respect individuals that are intelligent. However, like confidence, an intelligent person can very easily come off as being cocky or even belittling. People with above average intelligence also have to figure out ways to communicate this intelligence in ways that everyone can understand. Only then can they really be an effective leader. If we took a group of high school students and sat them down in a Astrophysics lecture being held by the Director of NASA, they wouldn't necessarily want to follow this speaker simply because of the intelligence of the lecture.
The hardest part of being a leader is making other people want to follow you. Sure we can all go out and tell the next 50 people that we see that if they back us up on this or that then they win $100. But that's not real leadership. True leadership comes when others join with us simply because they like the direction that we are headed in. It's as simple as that.
This relates to us at college, especially at a big college like Purdue, because with close to 40,000 students, what are you personally doing to stand out and be a leader? Are others around you willing to follow you based on these characteristics above? These are not the only characteristics of leadership by any means; they were just the three that I thought were most relevant and useful. So be a connector. Branch out. Find out what makes you uncomfortable and do it. Adjust your personal knobs so that you can be the best you that you can be!
I came across a bit of exciting news a few days ago, but it was just confirmed today. My blog will now be hosted on boiler.camp.us and so I will be blogging for two different sites, but if you are used to reading on here, don't worry blogs will still be on the way. I am hoping that this will help expand my readership and get me more involved with the students of Purdue.
Closing tip for the week: Hicks Undergraduate Library was voted one of the best places on campus to study. There is a reason for this. It is AWESOME! Go there and check it out if you haven't been there yet. If you have, I am sure that you would agree with me. If not, go to a psychiatrist.
Closing quote for the week: "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." ~ John. C Maxwell
Throwing up the NW333 and throwing down The Rock,
Signing off,
JD
Awesome blog! JD, you know your stuff. Keep it coming.
ReplyDelete