Life Coach as Leader: Do You Have What it Takes To Be a Leader?

“Look at him,” the fond mother says on the playground, as her toddler shows other toddlers how to jump on a line of ants.  “He’s a born leader.”

“If you want the scholarship,” the academic adviser tells the high school kid, “you’re going to have to show more leadership ability.  Look at Shane over there.  He’s a born leader.  Try to be more like him.”  (Yikes!  Don’t try to be like anyone but you!!!”)

“That kid will be the CEO one of these days,” the department head says over the water cooler.  “You watch.  One of these days we’ll be answering to him.  He’s a born leader.”

Are you a born leader?  No?

Guess you should give it up then, huh?  I mean, sure, you have this incredible gift from the universe, and you’ve found the courage to honor it by stepping out into a joyful adventure of intuitive discovery and service, but the universe left out one key ingredient:

You aren’t a born leader.

Darn it.  And you were so close to achieving your dreams.

*sigh*

Somehow, we have this pervasive myth in our culture that leadership abilities cannot be learned. Sure, we can learn to cut hair, to meditate, to understand the Offsides Rule in Soccer, to solve Sudoku puzzles and to hold the flying crow yoga position for five minutes . . . pretty well.  We’re actually amazingly diverse learning machines with endless capacity for taking in knowledge and decoding the world around us.

Too bad leadership skills are out of our reach.

Not.

Has anyone ever called you a born leader?  No?  Well, good news, my friend.  You aren’t actually doomed to a lifetime of mediocrity and imitation after all!

In this series of blogs, we’ve been talking about how leadership skills apply to your field as a healer, life coach or heart-based entrepreneur, and what exactly those skills consist of.  I said in a previous blog that you can’t define people by the black and white labels – “that one is a leader,” and “that one is not a leader.”  All of us are, or should be, learning more every day about how we can use our stories, our strengths and our gifts to lead others to our mutual success.   But maybe you’re still doubting your abilities.  Last week I told you that a leader has three tasks:  to facilitate, guide and influence.  Let me break it down for you.

• Facilitate.  In other words, figure out what needs to happen, and work to make it possible.  Consider your client’s or staff member’s resources or strengths, and make a plan.
• Guidance.  Once you know what needs to be done, you need to hone your ability to convey that to your client or staff member in a clear, positive, high-energy way.
• Influence.  Are you following your dream, tapping into your inspiration and gifts to unearth your future?  If so, all you need to do to influence – inspire! – your life coach client or staff member is to share that positive high-energy with stories, face-to-face conversation, and a willingness to expose your passion to the light.

Are you a born leader?  Maybe your answer is still no.  But take a look at those three tasks.  Doable, right?   Chances are, you’re already doing all three things in lots of different contexts in your life.  Chances are, you’re stronger in one area, weaker in the other . . . it doesn’t matter.  With practice (which you get by making intentional choices), you’ll get stronger in all three!  As John Quincy Adams said, “If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”

And it’s as simple as that!

If you’re a  life coach, heart-based entrepreneur, or healer, you are already a leader.  All you need to do is continually hone your skills.  Learn how now in my EnergyRICH® Bootcamp!