MENTORS Magazine

MENTORS MAGAZINE | EDITION 1 | 33

I don’t believe leaders are born; I be-

lieve that they are self-made. Sure, there are

times when, by sheer seniority, somebody

gets bumped up into a position where they

might suddenly be running the shop, have a

bunch of employees under them; ‘leading’ in

a manner of speaking. But one must grow in-

to being a leader, and to do this, one must

climb the rungs of an imaginary ladder, learn-

ing, losing their footing even well before one

gets to leadership nirvana if they ever get

there at all.

Some people don’t ascend to the meta-

phorical leader penthouse, while others are

quite content on reaching and staying at a

specific rung. Only you know the kind leader

you will turn out to be. But to be a person

who influences others in the most positive of

ways, and uses the full force of his or her

awareness and abilities, you need to climb all

the way up these levels, not skipping

any steps along the way.

Boss

As I just mentioned, a man or wom-

an can, and often do, become boss,

only by being promoted. But if you have

even a smidgen of awareness, you will quick-

ly realize how little real power and influence

you have, even though you are the boss. At

this level, I dare say you’ll have to work to

gain the trust and respect of people, earn the

‘right to lead,’ whether you are a principal of

a school, or just promoted to head dentist.

Teetering on this first rung, one relies

on rules, regulations, politics, and organiza-

tional charts to control people; don’t get a big

head here, you are not much more than a glo-

rified manager. Sure, this is the first step, but

being a boss doesn’t mean you are a leader.

4 Steps To Leadership Nirvana

Step

1

BY DR. STEVEN HYMOVITCH