What Makes an Effective Leader?

by Lori Kasbeer
Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to listen to the best leaders/motivators of our time. I attended the “Get Motivated” seminar hosted by Peter and Tamara Lowe. I will be covering in several featured posts exactly what was said but today I want to focus on the advice given by Lou Holtz one of college football's most successful coaches and may be the premier program builder in the history of the sport. Holtz has taken four different programs to top 20 finishes, won a national championship and National coach of the year honors, and guided teams to 22 postseason bowl games. He knows a little bit about leadership. But Lou Holtz goes on to say, “I think everyone should experience defeat at least once during their career. You learn a lot from it.”

Lou Holtz said successful leadership can be broken down into four categories.

1. Have a positive attitude. "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." How you approach a challenge will determine the type of leader you are. You need to be an optimist no matter what is going on around you. He shared a story of Vince Lombardi stating his team has never lost, when challenged on that fact saying he indeed have lost and lost some important games. Lombardi responded, “Sir I did not lose, I just ran out of time.” Your attitude will determine your success. Your need to develop a passion to persevere.

2. Focus. Get rid of excuses. When you are leading other people you need to all have the same goal in mind. Each of you may have different opinions on how to accomplish that goal, so you may have disagreements. But a successful leader has a clearly stated goal for each of the people they are leading. This gives the people a sense of purpose and something attainable. “If you're bored with life - you don't get up every morning with a burning desire to do things - you don't have enough goals.”

3. Be a dreamer. Never say anything is impossible, but say “it is possible when.” Also ask yourself what is the most important thing at the moment. As a leader you should be constantly learning and growing, if you are not growing you are dying. Don’t settle for just maintaining. “If what you did yesterday seems big, you haven't done anything today.”

4. Develop meaningful relationships with people. Go the extra mile and care for each person you are leading, be there for them. In the successful organization, no detail is too small to escape close attention. But watch out for the people who pull you down, be a person who lifts others up. Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.

Everyone who you lead is going to ask three questions about you:

If each of your followers can answer yes to each of the three questions above then you will be leading a team that can do the impossible. A leader is only as strong as the weakest link, but the key thing to remember as a leader: