FEATURE: Ray of Sunshine – On Becoming a Leader

By Timothy A. Edward

In today's globalised environment, effective leadership entails attending to people's needs, resolving issues, grasping opportunities, establishing goals, maintaining connections with stakeholders, managing relationships, and fostering a winning culture.

Globally, there have been ongoing elections and reforms this year. We have been going through constant change, even in the business sphere, with many outstanding innovations and new discoveries. We can identify a trend if we pay close attention to the developments that are taking place.

Fulfill Needs

First, people have overwhelming needs as a result of pandemics, wars, and economic downturns, and if we want to become leaders, then we must prepare ourselves to address those needs. We can observe how research and development firms are producing innovative and cutting-edge goods and services, meeting the needs of people. We can also see politicians emerging as statesmen, even as they promise to meet the needs of their citizens.

Address Issues

The other trend we can clearly see: it is impossible to prevent issues and difficulties from occurring. However, those who solve those issues are given the opportunity to assume leadership roles.

Size Opportunities

Waiting for fresh possibilities to present themselves or dwelling on past failures are two of the largest problems people face. However, the key to success is in assessing current opportunities to address issues and satisfy needs. Time and tide do not wait for anyone, so we must all take advantage of the opportunities as they arise.

Being a leader isn't really a title. Because each of us has been called to take on a leadership position within our respective circles of influence. Have you observed how much of an impact informal leaders have on a community or group? This alone demonstrates that a title does not confer leadership.

Prioritising the most important problems and tasks that only we can do is essential for leaders. We might assign or delegate the remaining duties and responsibilities to others. To put it in another way, it also involves making room for individual efficacy. Setting the direction, managing crucial relationships and meetings, connecting with important stakeholders, mobilising your leaders to capture the organisation's vision and strategy, and taking action to establish a winning culture that distinguishes your business from the competition are all aspects of leadership.

Leaders as Readers and Writers

Think about it, not every reader is a leader, but every leader should be a reader. At the same time, writing facilitates the organising and sequencing of our thoughts. Begin writing in a journal and continue to do so whenever those brilliant ideas come to you. After that, begin to develop your ideas further, dig deeper and write them down and begin to post them on the various digital platforms, and watch as your leadership and influence increase. Everyone can now access our enormous world thanks to digital technologies, which have genuinely transformed our world into a global village.

So, in today’s dynamic environment, effective leadership involves addressing people’s needs, solving problems, seizing opportunities, and fostering a collaborative culture. Leaders must be empathetic and proactive, recognising that challenges are inevitable but can be navigated successfully. Leadership is not confined to titles; informal leaders can significantly impact their communities. Finally, becoming a voracious reader and writer will enhance a leader’s ability to organise thoughts and influence others, especially in this digital age.