The 21 Laws of Leadership: How to Develop the Qualities of a Leader

Chapter 12: Initiative: Opportunities are found on your own initiative

Initiative
Success seems to be inseparable from action.Successful people keep moving, they make mistakes sometimes but never give up.

— Conrad, founder of Hilton Hotels

Of all the things that scare leaders, complacency should be at the top of the list.

—John C. Maxwell

take the first step to move forward

Kemmons Wilson has always been a proactive guy.He has been working since he was 7 years old and has never stopped.He started out selling magazines, newspapers and popcorn. In 1930, at the age of 17, he tried his first formal salaried job writing price plates for cotton brokers, earning $12 a week.

When the company came up with a job opening of record paying $35 a week, Wilson did his part to apply first and was hired.But when he got his paybag with only $12 in it, he asked for a raise and got it.When he got his paycheck the next week, he found that it was only $3 more.When he asked the company why he couldn't get the same $35 as other recorders, the boss gave him an answer: the company wouldn't pay a 17-year-old kid that kind of salary.Wilson immediately handed in his resignation.This was Wilson's last salaried job for the next 70 years of his life.

Since then, Wilson's business has gradually grown, and his money is not limited to industries: slot game machines, cold drinks and vending machine distribution.He also saved enough money to build a house for his mother, and saw potential in the home building business as a result.Then, he stepped into the construction industry in the Memphis area and became a local rich man.Wilson's initiative has earned him many fortunes, but has yet to reach the world.Until 1951, he took his family to Washington for vacation. During the trip, he personally experienced the backwardness of the American hotel industry.Motels have been popping up all over the United States since the 20s. Some are quite family-friendly, while others rent out beds by the hour. The problem is that you don't know what you're charging until you walk in the door, and that's up to the individual. luck.

"You have no way of predicting what kind of hotel the whole family will stay in," Wilson recalled. I'm angry." Wilson, who has five children, is going on a trip and is breaking the bank at $400 to $[-] a night per room, plus $[-] per child...that's the equivalent of paying for three rooms Just stayed in the last room.When encountering such a thing, most people will consider themselves unlucky and complain at most.But Wilson had the spirit of initiative and decided to take action to change the status quo. "After we go back, we will open a chain of family hotels," he said to his wife, "to make this hotel trustworthy." His goal is to build [-] chain hotels. At that time, his wife even laughed at him as a dream.

When Wilson returned to Memphis, he hired a designer to help him design his first hotel. He hoped to build a hotel that was clean, simple, and easy to use, with the facilities that every home should have, such as: All rooms have TV sets, and every hotel has a swimming pool, etc.The next year he opened his first hotel in suburban Memphis.The hotel's name is emblazoned on a 53-foot-tall sign prominently displayed to passing traffic: Holiday Inn (Holiday Inn).

Achieving the goal of 400 hotels has taken longer than Wilson expected.By 1959, he had only opened 100, but when he began franchising, the growth of new hotels accelerated.By 1964, 500 Holiday Inns had opened, and by 1968, 1000. In 1972, a Holiday Inn opened around the world every 72 hours.The Holiday Inn continued to expand and grow until 1979, when Wilson retired from a heart attack.

"When I was young, I used to go hungry," Wilson said. "I had to work hard to make ends meet, but when I retired from a heart attack and I went home for a month off, I couldn't stand the leisure." For a For an active person, it is simply too difficult for him to do nothing.

Proactive leadership sees

In the book "21 Laws of Leadership", I pointed out that leaders must know how to actively communicate with followers, but that is not the only occasion to show initiative, they must always look for opportunities and be ready to take action.What qualities enable a leader to push to get things done?I found at least the following four points.

1. They know what they need

The humorous pianist Oscar Levant once quipped, "I'm making up my mind one second and indecisive the next." Unfortunately, that's actually true for many people, and no one can Both indecisive and productive.As Napoleon Hill said: "The beginning of all achievement is desire." If you want to be an effective leader, you need to know what you want.Only then will you spot the opportunity when it comes.

2. They drive themselves to take action
There is an old adage: "All things are possible if you will them." Active people don't wait for others to inspire them; they know it's their responsibility to push themselves beyond their comfort zone.They make it a habit, which is why, like Theodore Roosevelt, a great 20th-century proactive leader, said, "There is nothing remarkable about my resume, except for one thing, which is : I only do things that I think will be successful. And when I decide to do something, I immediately put it into action.”

3. They take risks
When leaders know what they want and push themselves to do it, they run into another hurdle—their willingness to take risks.To be proactive, in other words, is often to take some risk.But one reason good leaders are willing to take risks is because they know that not being proactive may cost them more.

President John Kennedy once asserted: "There are always risks and costs associated with a plan of action, but they are much smaller than the long-term risks and costs of doing nothing in pursuit of comfort."

4. They also make a lot of mistakes

The good thing about proactive people is that they get things done, and the bad thing is that they make a lot of mistakes. IBM founder Thomas J. Watson (Thomas J. Watson) admitted this when he said: "The way to succeed is to double the failure rate."

While proactive leaders experience more failure, it doesn't bother them too much.The better the prospect of something, the greater the chance of failure.Senator Robert Kennedy summed it up: “Only the man who makes a mistake can achieve great things.” If you want to be a leader who achieves great things, you have to be willing to take the initiative and take risks.

Self-reflection: Are you proactive enough?
Are you a proactive person?Do you often take the initiative to look for opportunities, or do you always wait for the pie to fall from the sky?Do you prefer to act on your gut, or do you always analyze everything endlessly?Former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca said, “Even the right decision, if made too late, becomes the wrong decision.” When was the last time you took the initiative to try something big?If you haven't been pushing yourself out of your comfort zone lately, you need to get yourself started being proactive.

"Prescription" to make yourself more active

If you want to develop a sense of initiative, try the following.

1. Change your mindset

If you lack initiative, know that the root cause of the problem comes from within yourself, and no one else is to blame.Identify the reason why you are always hesitating. Is the risk frightening you?Are you still worried about past setbacks?Do you not see the promise of opportunity?Find out what's making you hesitate, and deal with it.Your heart must be able to break through before your outside can move forward.

2. Don’t just wait for the opportunity to come to your door

Great opportunities never come their way.You have to go out and find it, and make a good list of your assets, talents, and resources so that you have an estimate of your potential.Seriously look for good opportunities every day for a week from now.Where do you see a need?Who is looking for talent like you?Are there people you have never had access to that yearn for someone like you to help?Opportunities are everywhere, open your eyes and you will see them.

3. Take action
It's one thing to see a good opportunity, it's another to act on it.Someone laughed and said: Who doesn't have a whim when taking a bath?But only a handful of people actually take action after drying off and stepping out of the bathroom.Choose the best opportunity you want to do, try your best to see what you can do, until you have done everything you can, otherwise don't give up lightly.

step forward bravely

In 1947, Lester Wunderman was fired from the advertising agency he worked for in New York.But the young man is well aware that he still has a lot to learn from his boss, Max Sackeim.The next morning, Lester was back in the office working as usual, but completely unpaid.For a whole month, Seckheim pretended not to see him, but finally Seckheim couldn't hold back anymore and went to Lester: "Well, you win! I've never seen anyone want a A job is more determined than money."

Lester went on to work his way into advertising and went on to become one of the most accomplished advertising professionals of the 20th century.He is known in the industry as the "Father of Direct Selling."

The bold step taken today is the key to reaching the bright future tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)