Six Magical Words To Clarify Your Leadership Goals

Many a time, in work interviews and beauty contests you are asked to describe yourself in one word! Now, that isn’t something that all people can do. You know why? To describe yourself in one word, you should know yourself thoroughly and judge yourself correctly. Clarity of self concept is what makes you find a single fitting label for yourself that encapsulates your entire personality.

Summing up your life and personality in a few words is a challenge, but many illustrious people were able to give entire descriptions of themselves and their works in a miniature capsule of a few words. For example, Ernst Hemingway took the challenge of writing a story in six words “For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Worn “! Noted columnist Peggy Noonan sized up the entire life of President Lincoln in one single sentence “ He preserved the Union and freed the slaves”

Clarity of thought is an essential ingredient of successful leadership and you should practice ways in which you can achieve this. If you are an experienced worker, you’ll surely agree that you should be hundred percent clear of what you are doing now and what you should be doing next. Leadership involves understanding your work goals clearly and utilizing other people to achieve these goals. So the key phrase here is “precision and conciseness” and that you can achieve by summing up your leadership in six words. Many ace leaders have used only six words to describe their leadership.

When you try to describe your leadership in just six words, you’ll have to identify the words that best describe it. It will involve a process of elimination of all vague terminology that an unclear mind can generate. If you are clear with your goals, you can always think singularly and find the most fitting labels for them. You can use the six word memoir concept introduced by Smith Magazine in helping you out in this.

To start off with, identify your singular goal, which is above all other goals for you. For this you’ll have to do a bit of self searching to know what you want to actually achieve. For example, cost effective completion of your project, delivery of results in record time, and successful introduction of new concepts may be your immediate goal. But what is your ultimate goal? Obviously, its your need for being recognized as one of the most efficient leaders of your company. When you describe yourself in six words you should identify this single goal of yours and work towards it. Here are some questions that you can ask yourself to help you in achieving this:

1. What makes you take up a job – Is it because you like it and you want to help others benefit from your work; or is it because your boss is pressurizing you to take up that assignment? If it’s the former, its good news!  If it’s the latter, you should try to figure out the problem and act accordingly. It might mean that its time for you to pause your work for a while or switch over to a new one. Just jot down what you are doing and why you are doing it. Here, your first two magical words are ready. They are “work passion” that convey that you have taken up this work, out of a passion for it.
2. How can you achieve the first step – In this part, you should find out how you can achieve your stated goals. Is it by motivating your co-workers and subordinates? Does it involve your active involvement in explaining things to them clearly and understanding their problems? Now you can frame your next pair of magical words : “ Employee motivation” which convey that you need to motivate your workers.
3. How much control do I have over my project participants – You will have some people under your control by virtue of your official status, but if you need more, you should devise ways to get them. Maybe this will require you to coax them a bit and that you should skillfully. Your last set of magical words are : “ More control” that convey that you have a satisfactory number of people under your control and you need to persuade more people to follow your leadership.

So, your entire six word memoir reads likes this: “Work passion. Employee motivation. More control”.

This six word magical exercise might not actually open up the key to perfect leadership immediately, but its surely going to help you improve your efficiency.