Eight Ways to Develop Your Leadership Potential
By Graciela Kenig--©2005-2008

In modern Corporate America, front-line employees are expected to lead teams and mid-level managers often are involved in strategic decisions.  Even if your title doesn’t reflect management responsibilities, today’s employers demand that you have leadership qualities.

But what are those qualities? 

Definitions of leadership abound. So do the ways in which someone can lead effectively. Culture, gender and personality all play a role in the type of leader each of us becomes.  Research shows that, in general, American women and people of color are much more relationship oriented than their white male counterparts.  While seemingly contradictory, this style has been used successfully by many.

Here are some traits common to most leaders, along with ways in which our Latino culture can impact the development of your own leadership abilities.  Embrace the assets and move beyond the hindrances.  Ultimately, it’s your choice.

A leader is someone who…

• Can take charge and make things happen. Often, because of our ingrained respect for authority figures, we wait for others to tell us what to do—or what’s worse; remain silent when we know a better and more efficient way to accomplish things.  When there is a vacuum in leadership—when we don’t rise to the requirements of the situation—someone will fill it.  Don’t let others seize your opportunity to shine. 
• Can accept responsibility for his/her actions.  Mistakes will happen in spite of excellent preparation and contingency planning. It is always better to fight the tendency to blame others or become defensive—something many of us do for fear of misperceptions about our abilities—and own up to what happened.  Only then you can learn from whatever went wrong and move on.   
• Can rely on his/her own judgment.  In a presentation called Leadership Primer, retired General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell said: “Learn from the pros, observe them, seek them out as mentors and partners… [But] leadership does not emerge from blind obedience to anyone…”  
• Leadership is not doing things right but doing the right things.  It means you have to assess the situation quickly and take action—even if this action has a negative effect on esteemed coworkers or subordinates.  Because this is inevitable, we must learn to subdue, when necessary, our natural desire to protect the relationship. And have a plan to repair the damage. 
• Will take risks.  Are you a risk-taker at work?  Sometimes we take more risks at home and at our favorite community organization than in the workplace. There, we are too concerned about potential consequences (missing out on the promotion, losing face, hurting someone’s feelings) to do what must be done without an implicit statement of permission. “You don’t know what you can get away with until you try,” Powell pointed out.
• Conveys authority in a way that makes others feel good. Dwight Eisenhower once said: “You do not lead by hitting people over the head. That's assault, not leadership." Coming from authoritarian societies, or having been raised by parents who grew up under such circumstances, sometimes we attempt to lead through inflexible and arbitrary rules.  While we may have trouble becoming the boss of former colleagues, it is possible to be humane and to establish the needed boundaries at the same time.  
• "Good leaders delegate and empower others liberally,” Powell continued. “But they pay attention to the details, every day.”  For most diverse employees, this presents a dilemma.  Being conscious of potential fallout, we tend not to delegate effectively (e.g., we don’t let go of the task so we get mired in the details). Effective leaders coach others to accomplish tasks they have the skills to perform, but realize they are ultimately responsible for the results.

• Makes good decisions. According to Powell, “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through an argument, debate and doubt, to offer a solution everyone can understand.” If you have trouble in this regard, analyze the most important decisions you have made to find out what skills and feelings allowed you to make them successfully.