Feature: Mark of a Leader- Being Focused

By Timothy. A. Edward

The secret to leadership success is being focused. Being focused has many diverse angles to it. As we have all seen, there are many bosses around.  But, only a few leaders. Because true leaders focus on how best they can lead from the front.

As leaders, we have to earn our titles every day. Past achievements and past laurels are good as they reveal our competencies and talents. Yet, we are only good as we are right now, at this moment. Current actions define a leader and current performance is what truly matters.

Our Teams

People are key to any leader.  In this sense, as leaders, we need to focus on having the right people around us, which is far more important than having the right tools or finances. Successful leaders prioritise having the right people around them over tools or finances. The character and attitude of a leader’s team are crucial.

For example, in this presidential race, people are taking a closer look at the people who are surrounding the candidates. Of course, the masses are curious to know what different manifestos from different candidates are promising.  Yet, the average person is not too concerned about economic principles and theories and how the constitutional law can support building a stronger economy. But they understand the importance of teams, and they are looking at the candidates and their close associates, with whom partnerships are being formed and their past records, character and chemistry. People make mistakes, because no one is perfect.  But the question is: what is the attitude of those who surround our leaders?  Do they have an attitude to serving people or do they want to be served?

Excellence

Then, focusing and striving for excellence is essential. Without any hesitation, we pay a good fortune to purchase certain products because we know those brands are known for their excellence.

For example, Sri Lanka is recognised for its excellence in various sectors like tea, gems, rubber, coconut, ICT, and tourism. We need to have a thirst for excellence and ask ourselves why we are in our particular line of business. For excellence is a state of mind which can be best described as focus.

Prized Goals

Business psychology holds that some of the best business ideas were born out of bitter failures. Do not allow failures to crush your spirit and motivation. As the saying goes, failures are the pillars of success.  The pain of failure is only temporary but the lessons that come forth from a failure are priceless. Even so, as a nation, let us learn from past mistakes and failures and focus on running the race to win the prized goal – to make Sri-Lanka great again. Remember, failures are only temporary, but they provide valuable lessons. As a leader, learning from past mistakes is key to future success.

Prepare for another 2022

The way world events are unfolding, we can expect some huge changes in the near future.  So, in a sense, must we as a nation, get ready for another 2022 meltdown? So that when it happens, it will not be a disaster. As leaders, we must prepare for future challenges by learning from past mistakes and focusing on prosperity through private sector growth and entrepreneurship. In other words, we need to focus on prosperity with a biased outlook. We need to make the private sector and entrepreneurship our default mode for economic growth.

We have to take into consideration what the country is facing and what is happening in the world. We need to pay close attention to what is happening in the world and gear ourselves as leaders to face the future. It is easy to make predictions as to who is going to become the winner in this presidential race. Or is it that easy? We are living in days when nothing goes according to plan. The same applies to elections and manifestos. None of us has been in this situation before. So, as leaders, we need to be prepared for anything, have a peripheral vision and be prepared to walk through uncharted waters.

Win in your mind

Winning in the mind by overcoming self-defeating thoughts is crucial for personal and national success. Before doing anything, we need to win all the self-defeating talk in our minds. We owe this to our families, children and grandchildren. We must focus and mediate on how we can make Sri Lanka great again. We can do it again. Yes! We can.