Jeremie Kubicek, author of "Leadership is Dead: How Influence is Reviving It," sees leadership as a vehicle to influence people and have a positive impact on them. "The runaway greed of Wall Street's leadership, skyrocketing salaries for corporate executives and unkept promises from political leaders have left most people feeling betrayed and jilted. In many cases, employees are becoming victims of these unresponsive leaders as well," Kubicek explains.
In his new book, Kubicek discusses the Seven Action Steps that anyone can take to awaken the true leader within:
1. Break through your walls of self-preservation and focus on service to others.
2. Give trust to become trustworthy--without trust, there can be no influence.
As Kouzes and Posner write in their book, "Leadership Challenge" in the five principles of leadership, No. 1. is to Model the Way: Modeling the way is essentially about earning the right and the respect to lead through direct individual involvement and action. People first follow the person, then the plan. Titles are granted but it is behavior that wins respect. Your team members first buy into you emotionally before they are ready, willing and able to listen to the leader's analytical message. Therefore, a major part of the new leader's first 90 days on-the-job is all about building trust through individual and group interactions.