Clay in the Hands

Leaders aren’t born, they form.  I truly believe that statement.  Certainly, people are born with certain skills, passion and gifts that help them down the road to leadership, but much of what makes a leader is learned and experienced.

The most important key to leadership is trust.  Do people trust you?  There are libraries of leadership books that will give you all kinds of formulas and ideas for leading people.  But if the people you lead cannot trust you, nothing is going to work.

So how do you build trust?  First, realize that trust does not come with title and position.  Sure, you will begin a new position with some “leadership change” in your pocket, as John Maxwell has said.  You will be given a little trust up front simply because people will give you the benefit of the doubt.  But that is not going to carry you far.

There are volumes written on this subject, but today I want to leave you with two ideas to think about as they relate to building trust.  The first is that people need to know that you truly and sincerely care about them – and that takes time.

The second is that you need to be transparent and vulnerable.  People need to see that you are real and authentic.  When you mess up, and you will, admit it, learn from it and go on.

People will trust someone who really cares and is authentic; and people will follow a leader they can trust.

Lead well today!