Attitude, Not Aptitude Determines Altitude

Zig Ziglar

A few months ago I was speaking about Leadership and Confidence to 200 University students. It was one of the best days I have had this year.

What struck me was not only their commitment to being there, listening and really being involved in the presentation, but their lack of self-belief. I asked them, “Do you see yourselves as leaders?” Maybe if that 50% of them put up their hands, if that. Yes kind of a confronting question to ask a group and then ask them to put up their hands. It was a little daunting.

Most of them did not see themselves as leaders. Why? They saw leadership as a role or title. They don’t have CEO, Manager, Managing Director or Leader in their title (maybe some did), so how can they be leaders.

It is not about role or title.

This is how I see it, we are all leaders. We can all be leaders. Leadership is about Attitude. It is how you see yourself. It is how you turn that leadership attitude into action.

Why? Guess what if you don’t see yourself as a leader, you are not one.

As Henry Ford once said, if you think you can’t, you can’t. If you start to see yourself as a leader, you are and will be one. Yeah I hear you saying, really? Or maybe even bring it on! It is about YOU. Putting up your hand to be the best you can be, learning about leadership (yes we can learn!) and about who you are as a leader and not being afraid to fail – and succeed!

As you know we love the Neuroscience space. This is because we see our brains as our most important leadership tool.

Thing is, what we find is that leaders are afraid to stand out and step up. What happens if I fail as a leader? What happens if I succeed as a leader?

I recently spoke at Xmas event for a global organisation on Leadership is an Attitude – and our fear of failing and succeeding. I said don’t be afraid to fail but afraid not to try! What really resonated to me at end of my presentation, was that CEO said one of the greatest moments in her career is when she realised she was afraid of success. This stopped her from trying. Then she decided that she could do this (she changed her attitude, you guessed it) and put her hand up! And look where she is now.

Marianne Williamson once said –

Our Deepest Fear Is Not That We Are Inadequate. Our Deepest Fear Is That We Are Powerful Beyond Measure.

It Is Our Light, Not Our Darkness, That Most Frightens Us.

Don’t be afraid. Believe me I get it, the brain finds it easier to focus on threats than rewards. This is from evolution and our focus on survival. We can change this focus. I promise a dinosaur won’t eat you!

We are the Director of OUR Brain; we can change your perception and attitude. Imagine if you saw yourself as a leader. You wanted to make a difference, lead with integrity and character, inspired and influenced others, created a shared vision, motivated those around you to be the best they can be, created a engaged and positive workplace, coached and mentored your team, lead with purpose and passion and also build our future leaders.  You can do this!

Imagine if we all made this happen and all made a difference. I think we would be leading a difference world if we all had the attitude that we are leaders. Leadership is an Attitude and We Lead Our World!

At Leadership HQ we love how all of our programs help the participants and organisations that they work for develop their own “leadership attitude”… and of course, I love it so much I even wrote a book about it! It matters that much to me!

We are all leaders…Attitude Reflects Leadership

By the way at the end of my presentation, I asked the University Students the same question, and most of them put up their hands. I had tears my eyes.

We can all make a difference.

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