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Understanding the Mind of a Leader
May 16th, 2011
by Bill Boyajian

You may be an executive clinging to your leadership role, a middle manager trying to get hold of your department, a single mother struggling to lead your children, or a devoted but frustrated volunteer serving a cause you believe in. Whatever your lot in life, and unless you live alone on an island somewhere, you lead in one form or another because leadership is a position of influence.

Unfortunately, leadership, and leading people, in particular, doesn’t come with a set of ironclad rules. You start with a few fundamentals and then learn what works best largely through trial and error, hopefully more trial than error. The journey never stops. Nor does the learning. What worked yesterday may not work today, and is even less likely to work tomorrow.

In business, and in life, things can unravel fast. I’ve seen executives derailed from their leadership track, professionals lose their license to practice, husbands lose their wives, and pastors lose their congregations. I’ve seen people in all walks of life lose their identity and self-esteem. It’s no exaggeration that, had they been able to discover the leader within, their lives would be different.

The real key to leading is to achieve greater good for others. This comes from a fundamental understanding of who you are as a person and what your calling in life is as a leader. Great leadership transcends the bounds of time and culture. More often than we like to admit, we fail at leading. But there is a great hope for those of us who are committed to learning and growing as leaders, where the rewards, quite frankly, far outweigh the demands of time and pressure.

Good leadership is all about capitalizing on our strengths, minimizing our weaknesses, and building upon acquired knowledge. Leading people means developing followership. When you understand the mind of a leader, you’ll grasp the principles that replenish the reservoir of skills all leaders rely upon to bring people with them.



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–Charles Denaburg,
Managing Partner,
Levy’s Fine Jewelry
Birmingham, AL

"Our family needed some guidance on business transition and succession planning. We asked Bill Boyajian to help us because we knew we could trust him to tell us what we needed to hear. Bill became a valuable resource for our company and our entire family. He has the ability to meet each of us where we’re at and it has served us very well."

–Ceylon Leitzel
Leitzel Fine Jewelry
Hershey & Myerstown, PA

“We needed a plan to transition our business to a non-family member and we asked Bill Boyajian to help us. His experience in the area has really paid off, but we didn’t expect the added value of putting us together with a financial planner who helped organize our retirement needs. We now have the fundamentals to transition our business successfully, and we have Bill to thank for it.”

–Ernie & Debbie Cummings
Kizer-Cummings Jewelers
Lawrence, KS