The HEART of Leadership

"If your heart is not right no one cares about your leadership." -Mark Miller

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The H.E.A.R.T. of leadership from Mark Miller's The Heart of Leadership stands for; Hunger for wisdom, Expect the best, Accept responsibility, Respond with courage, and Think others first. I recommend that you read the book but I will briefly explain each of those here.

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HUnger for Wisdom

A good leader is constantly hungering for wisdom. Once you think you know it all you have lost your humility to learn and you will stop progressing as a leader and as a person. Also, a good leader takes the prerogative to learn and can turn failures into learning opportunities. 

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Expect The Best

A good leader is optimistic about the future. No matter how bad things get a good leader can look at the bright side and can hope for a better future.

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Accept Responsibility

A good leader will accept responsibility for failures but will share the praise of success.

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Respond With Courage

A good leader will do the right thing even if it is the hard thing. This is where I had my "Oh my heck I need to start doing that" moment. He was talking about being in meetings and having the courage to speak up if you have a thought to contribute. I feel like meetings often become competitions for who can "shine the brightest" and I want to avoid that but I think I have kept quiet too many times when I should speak up so this is something that I am working on.

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Think others first

A good leader is truly a servant to those that follow them. Not that you are at their beck and call but that what you do is in their best interest. 

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Leadership Lesson

I think the quote at the beginning of this post says it all. If you don't have a good heart and if you aren't leading from a good place nobody cares about your leadership. Focus on your heart first, your other skills second.