This text is taken from the original draft manuscript of Influential Leadership: A Leader’s Guide to Getting Things Done and is provided here to enrich your learning on the Influential Leadership Programme.
Chapter One: Building Your Purpose and Passion
You can only be an Influential Leader if you have an ambitious purpose, and get moving.
To become an Influential Leader you need to develop a clear long-term vision and also be realistic about how you are going to free up time to begin making progress. That means you have to also focus on your short term objectives and make sure you don’t miss anything critical. The grander your purpose, the more influential you will become – provided you are also making progress at the same time.
Before you jump into this, you may want to first check out the introduction to the book:
- An Introduction to Influential Leadership which lays out the problem with leadership development, and proposes the Progress, Purpose and Passion framework to making big things happen (1300 words).
- Influential Leadership Capabilities is the second part of the introduction that puts forward a competency model for this leadership paradigm (1400 words).
Chapter One contributes to the following Influential Leader capabilities:
- Knows that they are a leader and has decided where they will apply their leadership.
- Develops a clear sense of purpose and is able to communicate a compelling vision.
- Injects passion into their purpose and is able to maintain momentum.
- Is able to create space for their long term purpose while delivering short term results.
Chapter Sections
- Exploring Your Leadership Purpose. This explore more about your purpose and also, defining and analysing your arena. 1100 words.
- Deciding on Your Purpose. Here you will also find ideas on creating a compelling vision. 1100 words.
- Protecting the Short-Term. Quite a bit in here about self-motivation as well. 1300 words.
- Assessing Risks and Opportunities. Always a handy thing to have awareness of. 550 words.
- Cultivating Passion. Important topic, especially if you need to influence against apathy. 700 words.
Getting things done
Important points to remember as you begin to make more progress:
- Develop a purpose which is appropriate for you. The more experienced you are, the bolder your purpose should be.
- Focus on your short term imperatives and your long term purpose.
- Work hard to build your motivation and passion because this gives you the energy to keep going.
- Keep your feet on the ground and remain alert to what is happening in the real world.
- As you make more progress, your boldness will grow.
- Influential Leaders get things done.