What Are Your Unique Leadership Capacities?

What Are Your Unique Leadership Capacities?
By Laleh Hancock

As John Quincy Adams, the 6th president of the United States of America said: “If your
actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a
leader.”
The choices and the actions you take have the power to contribute to the world, and the
world of business, in unlimited ways.
What choices and actions can you make that will contribute to you, your business, and the
world around you?
That’s a great question!
In fact, asking questions, thinking outside of the box, and never standing in judgment of what
is right or wrong, good or bad, possible or not possible, are essential to being a great leader.
Another key aspect of leadership is giving recognition to your unique strengths and abilities,
allowing them to come to the fore, and not trying to be the definition of a leader from anyone
else’s perspective. This is how you inspire others to choose more of their own greatness,
too.
Here are three questions you can ask to help acknowledge your unique leadership strengths
and exponentialize them even further.

What can I acknowledge that is different about me? 
How you perceive business possibilities and opportunities is different from anybody else on
the planet. Do you acknowledge this or try to dismiss it?
Think back on times in your career or business where something seemed impossible or
overwhelming and yet you somehow were able to handle it. Maybe you looked at the
problem from a different perspective that gave you some new options, or you had a
conversation that changed it or gave you information or awareness of other avenues that
could assist you.
How many times have you asked a question, taken a different point of view, or made some
other choice that allowed you to create more in business—even if at the time you had no
idea what to do, where to start, or what the outcome would be?
When you acknowledge what is different about you, you can begin to have a greater sense
of how you uniquely engage in the business world. You can begin exploring that even further
by asking: If I can do that and create that, what else am I capable of that I’ve never
considered before?

What revenue have I already created?
What are three ways in the last fiscal year you added revenue into your business, project, or
division?
You may not be the person making the direct sale, but creating revenue for the business
also includes the unallocated or undeclared revenue streams that you contribute to. Creating
revenue is not necessarily linear.

For example, one of the costliest things in business is unhappy employees and unhappy
clients. If you took a situation with a client and turned it around, or you contributed to the
wellbeing of your team or colleagues, or you improved the system for tracking invoices, you
immediately created more revenue for the business. It may actualize as visible dollars now
or later, but it is still creating more for the future.
When you start acknowledging the revenue you’ve created in the past, you can then go
forward much more effectively with the question: How many more revenue streams can I
add now and in the future?

What contribution am I that I have never acknowledged?
Many people believe that if they are not in a “leadership” position in business, they do not
have the ability to contribute or lead their team or organization to greater. When you define
anything, you limit what you can contribute. For example, if you think your skill is as a
“problem solver” in business, you may only allow yourself to shine where there’s a problem.
In truth, what you really have is a great ability to take whatever ingredients or elements you
have available (good and bad) and create something greater. You don’t need a problem to
use that capacity in business!
Every person can contribute much to business growth and expansion, even if that
contribution may not appear immediately obvious. Rather than define, dismiss, or devalue
your capacity or role in the business, ask yourself: What contribution am I in the business
that I’ve never acknowledged? What contribution can I be now and in the future if I no longer
limit or judge what my contribution can be?

It’s easy to inspire greatness, starting with you: recognize that you, as you are, already have
leadership abilities and capacities in business and life and then, have an adventure of
discovering what occurs when you choose to use them! Acknowledge you, don’t judge, ask
questions, and you’ll lead yourself and others to know that more and greater is always
available.