Bold Leaders Don’t Wait Until They Know the All the Answers

Author Andy Stanley explained that while vision AND strategy are both important aspects of leadership, vision always comes first. “Clarity around and unreasonable commitment to what should be,” precedes every bold endeavor. But “how” always comes later on. In fact, the quickest way to stifle a vision is to insist on knowing all the answers before getting started. You usually only figure things out one step at a time.

You Will Face Adversity

Former Navy SEAL commander Rorke Denver admitted that the only response to fear that works is to face it. Avoiding pain won’t allow you to get to the final destination. That’s a tough decision for each individual to make. But it doesn’t have to be a solo experience. Bravery is much easier with a team around you.

Bravery is YOUR Responsibility

Nobel Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai delivered perhaps the bottom line for the entire event: “It is our duty to speak out for what is true and right.” Malala has unparalleled credibility on this sentiment since she survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban for speaking out on behalf of education rights for all children. She continues her work as an advocate, but also as an encourager. “We should not wait for someone else,” she said. “Be brave wherever you are. Bravery has no limits. Stand up. Speak out.”

It Takes Courage to Create Change

Peyton Manning famously said that “Anyone who waits for someone else to make the change is automatically a follower.” If no change is required, there’s no need for leaders. Unfortunately, change is difficult, unsettling and unpredictable. Therefore, Manning added that leaders should expect – and even learn to thrive in –  situations with ambiguity.

A Good Team is Better than a Good Idea

Pixar president Ed Catmull shared that a bad team will ruin a good idea, but a good team will take a bad idea and turn it into a good one. Therefore, we must develop our teams. We can do this by removing barriers to collaboration and sharing in team (rather than individual) successes.

We’ll Never Be Fully Ready

One of the themes throughout the event was that preparation not only greatly enhances the probability of success, it replaces fear with a measure of confidence. However, Seth Godin reminded everyone that many times we cannot be fully ready for the change we seek to crate. Many new ideas, products and technologies were built before the “market” was ready for them (such as the fax machine, printing press, automobiles or Apple products). To create any such change means accepting the possibility that it will fail.

Leaders Must be Optimists

This wasn’t a new sentiment at Leadercast. Both Jack Welch and Condelizza Rice noted the need for optimists at previous Leadercast events. This year, Rudy Giuliani explained again that no one lines up to follow a pessimist. Napoleon once claimed, “Leaders are dealers of hope.” If there is no reason to hope, there is no reason to follow.

If you attended Leadercast this year, what was your biggest takeaway?

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.

I can’t think of a better example to share than this month’s leadership profile Malala Yousafzai.

I first heard of Malala when it was reported the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley had attempted to assassinate the then 15 year-old girl on her way home from school, shooting her in the face at point blank range in October, 2012. Her only “crime” was standing up and speaking out for the education rights of girls in the region. After an amazing recovery in Birmingham, England, Malala slowly but surely redoubled her efforts to speak out on behalf of education equality. Her book I Am Malala was released one year after her assassination attempt and she was the youngest person ever to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala’s media story has yet to peak, but I believe there are several takeaways from a leadership front as well, particularly for young leaders. Here they are:

Take Intiative

If there’s one thing young leaders (or any of us) need to hear, it’s this: you are never to unqualified to set a good example. Unfortunately, age can be one of the biggest excuses for not taking initiative when the opportunity arises. Encouraged by her father when she was 11 years old, Malala began writing a blog for the BBC under a pseudonym describing her experience under Taliban occupation. But it wasn’t because she was the most qualified. She was simply the only one willing to do it after the 15 year-old who had been selected backed out at the last minute.

Taking initiative isn’t about position or authority or attempting to make huge, sweeping changes. It’s about doing what we can in the circumstances we’re in.

Take Courage

If you’re advocating for any kind of change at all, you WILL face opposition at some point. This was certainly the case with Malala. Because she did so well with her BBC blog, additional media opportunities came her way. Eventually, the Taliban figured out who she was an issued threats against her and her family.

When opposition comes, it can often seem perfectly reasonable to quit. Many leaders do. Some are justified, but for the ones who stick with it, opposition is essentially a gut check. How much are they willing to put on the line? How important is the vision they are trying to accomplish? What is it worth?

For Malala, opposition simply added fuel to her efforts. The Taliban threats made it obvious she was making a difference. As Dale Carnegie says, criticism is often a disguised compliment. You don’t get it unless you are doing something noteworthy.

Serve Your Purpose

One of the questions author Mark Miller asks is this: are you a serving leader or a self-serving leader? In other words, are you in it for others or only yourself? I’ll admit this is always a tough question for me because I have so many personal and professional goals. Malala was the same way. Education was very personal for her and she worked extremely hard to win top honors as a child. But through her work as an education advocate, it became clear to her that education shouldn’t be a privilege, it should be a universal right. Her efforts (and circumstances) led to the passage of Pakistan’s first Right to Education Bill.

There comes a time when serving our purpose dwarfs the importance of self-promotion. To press that point, I’d like to share Malala’s own thoughts in this brief clip from her recent interview with Jon Stewart. When it became apparent Malala was literally fighting for everyone – even the very people who had tried to kill her – it left me just as speechless as it did Stewart.

You don’t need to be old enough or important enough to make a difference. Malala didn’t set out to become a revolutionary. She simply did the next right thing and didn’t give up, despite the pressure. You and I can do this too, right where we stand. Let’s join in.

Nathan Magnuson is a leadership consultant, coach, trainer and thought leader.  Receive his new ebook Trusted Leadership Advisor by subscribing to his website  or follow him on Twitter.