Wednesday, September 9, 2015

How to Amplify Digital Leadership Influence

Amplifying digital leadership is not about how loud you can speak, but how profound you could think.

People tend to make leadership very complex, but in its most simple form, leadership is an influence. Now we live in the hyperconnected digital age with always-on businesses and multi-level digital communication channels, As an influential digital leader, how do you gain influence? And how do you grow your influence effectively?

Amplifying digital leadership is not about how loud you can speak, but how profound you could think. The systemic thinker using a coping mechanism that handles today's complexities is often more introvert but has an ability to see the whole, and speak the language of the less complex coping mechanisms, thereby exerting influence and change. There are an increasing number of complex thinkers. The degree of leadership influence is much more complex than if a leader is introvert or extrovert. How they influence is dependent on the active coping mechanisms that they use to survive and thrive in a given set of life conditions. Also, the leadership influence is dependent on whether they are analog or digital thinkers, being transactional or transformational; having an entrepreneurial spirit or keeping status quo, and their states of minds.

Digital Leadership amplification is based on the color of the character. Focusing on leadership style alone to attract the followers is, at best, a short-lived adventure. True leadership is a reflection of who you are at the core, your real character, from the bottom of your heart.  Leadership is complex, and although it has many facets, at its core, the foundation of leadership is the character. There is absolutely no denying that. The leader is the biggest shaper of organizational culture. If s/he espouses and exhibits certain characteristics, then it will be picked-up by other members of the organization. The followers imitate their leaders. The point is that something can be trained such as a good habit, a right attitude, or polishing a cool style; but the substance of leadership is more innate, hence, leadership influence focuses on growing more authentic leaders, we need to encourage talent people to be “who they really are,” to compete via uniqueness, not compete for everything.

The leadership amplification needs to focus on adding value to people. And in order for you to add value to people you need to become more valuable. And in order to become more valuable, you need to grow yourself. In the words of Jim Rohn, "if you want to achieve more, you must become more."  Focus on growth. Leadership develops daily, not in a day. It's a process. Leadership is also like investing, it compounds. It is about leading others the way you would want to be led. It is about developing leaders who can then develop other leaders. It is about leadership pride; the responsibility In developing excellence; the generosity in developing others; the value intelligence in developing ethics; and the openness in developing empowerment. The spirit of organizations come from the top, leaders are the big culture influencers.

The most critical and yet overlooked foundation to being a real leader is in choosing a destination that creates a better world! Keep adding value is a key component to amplifying leadership influence, and in order to keep adding value, you need to keep growing. Leaders are learners, they consistently want to keep growing and constantly want to help others grow. Leadership across the entire world, across cultures, and across all times, should be the same, it is about helping the world become a better place, it's about future; it’s about innovation, it's about progress, and it's about irrefutable values and laws that help our society become more advanced. It is about contributing to our organizations and society and building a foundation for future leaders to grow. Real leaders leave a legacy for our next generations to build on.


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