The Leader Who Had No Title

I recently finished The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin Sharma.  Robin Sharma, a leadership advisor, works with Fortune 500 companies to create success formulas.  After 15 years of doing so he wrote this book to share these formulas with everyone.  His premise is that ANYONE can be a leader.  It doesn't matter your job description or title but that everyone including the janitor should be the best at his job and that you can inspire and lead others.  We each have the freedom to choose how we view our individual roles in the world as well as having the power to make positive decisions no matter our conditions.

People have the power within them to be their absolute best.  We can inspire, influence, and elevate everyone we meet by example. We can treat others with respect, appreciation, and kindness.  We can do all of this regardless of our title.

To be a good leader you must be authentic, a team leader, the first to make a move, innovative, ethical, give what you want to receive, and you need to focus on people and believing in them.

As leaders we need to treat everyone like a VIP.  People work with people they know, they like, and they trust.  So we need to make people feel special.

Some ideas that I liked from this book:

Getting up one hour earlier every day gives you 7 extra hours per week, 30 fresh hours per month, which is almost an extra workweek each month.  Sharma encouraged people to take this hour to build plans, refine your vision, develop projects, reflect on your values, and rethink your thinking. 

You need no title to be a leader.  Five rules to live this: Innovation, Mastery, Authenticity, Guts, Ethics.

Turbulent times build great leaaderse: Five rules to live this: Speak with Candor, Prioritize, Adversity Breeds Opportunity, Respond vs. React, Kudos for Everyone.

The deeper your relationships, the stronger your leadership.  Five rules to live this: Helpfulness, Understanding, Mingle, Amuse, Nurture.

To be a great leader, first become a great person.  Five rules to live this: See clearly, Health is wealth, Inspiration Matters, Neglect not your family, Elevate your lifestyle.

Quotes I liked from the book:

"It's fine to be content, but never be satisfied. So improve everything."

"Don't lose yourself on the way to the top."

"There will never be a better you than you."

"Be Yourself. Everyone else is taken."

"If you want more support, give more support.  If you want more appreciation, give more appreciation.  If you want more respect, you need to be giving respect first, and then it will all come back to you in a river."

"No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or to get all the credit for doing it."

"Only hurt people hurt people."

I really recommend this book for EVERYONE.  It's not just for those in management or wanting to move up in their job.  Everyone of us should be a leader in our own lives.  This book had great ideas and was inspiring.