9 Things a Leader MUST Do Part 1

9 Principles Successful Leaders Follow

Since I haven't read a complete book in at least six years, I made a new year's resolution that I would read two books a month. I was inspired after watching a video sermon by Dr. Myles Munroe. He stated that he reads four books a month. As busy as schedule is, if he can read four books a month, certainly I can read two. Because I haven't read a book in years, I decided I would start off with a small book. That would increase chances of finishing the book, I thought. Well, I did. I read one of the best books on leadership that I've ever read. The book was entitled "9 Things a Leader MUST Do," written by Dr. Henry Cloud. Excellent book. The book was only 127 pages but the book contained more relevant and useful information than many books that are 300 pages or more. If this book indicative of how good his books are, I will definitely read his other books entitled Boundaries (more than a millions sold) and God Will Make a Way. 

Over the next three days, I want to share with the awesome information I learned when I read this book. This book provided some insightful, thought provoking and useful information on leadership and how leaders are different from most people. And it's not that leaders are necessarily any different than most people, they just think differently and do a lot of little things differently. Dr. Cloud refers to leaders as deja vu leaders. He coined this term because no matter who the person is, these deja vu leaders seem to always to be successful and they always seem to get things done. They always seem to get promotions or increase business. They're deja vu because it's not the people, it's the principle they follow that allow the same successful results.The people are different by the results keep duplicating themselves.

9 Things a Leader MUST Do Chapters 1 - 3

The first chapter of the book was entitled Excavate Your Soul. In this chapter, the author explains how leaders reach down deep within themselves to find there "hidden treasures" or "talents" and invest themselves to nurture the talents they possess. And by investing in themselves, leaders are better able to take advantages of opportunities in all areas of their lives. Here are principles deja vu leaders follow to be successful in this chapter:

Dr. Henry Cloud, writer and psychologist

• Become aware of his or her dreams, talents, and other treasures of the soul.
• Listens to them and values them as life itself.
• Takes steps to develop them, beginning in very small ways.
• Seeks coaching and help to make them grow.
• Does not care as much about his or her results as his or her essence, but just continues to express his soul-treasures wherever he or she can

 In chapter two entitled "Yank The Diseased Tooth," the author gives practical advise on how to deal with poisonous people and situations. His best advise is to avoid those people and situations if you can. But if you can't avoid the situation or people, here is his practical advice on how to handle the situation:

• Don't get involved with people or situations that don't quite feel right.
• Don't get involved with people or situations you don't feel comfortable with.
• Don't agree to something you really don't want.
• Don't agree to situations that violates your values. 

The third chapter book entitled, Play The Whole Movie, offers great advise to avoid bad situations and how to think things through before making a major decision. And the more important the decision or more costly the decision, the more important it is to "play the whole movie." What the author means is look at how a decision will affect not only one other person or thing but who that decision will affect multiple situations or people in your organization.

I hope you found this information to be useful and helpful. I hope you pick up a copy of the book. You will not be disappointed. I would like your feedback and comments on the book and the points laid out in this blog. Look forward to hearing from you.