As a young leader, you must live out the very principles and nature of leadership that you desire to receive from the leaders that shape your current reality.

Becoming a leader requires the exercise of you determining the DEFINING PRINCIPLES that will govern your life and leadership ::: you must know WHAT & WHY people will follow, then go through your environments practicing those principles with as much integrity as possible. HOWEVER, if you should ever find a principle that you have adopted does in fact not have merit, you must be willing to admit it, alter it and move on.

Young leaders ache for leadership to be relational. They want a  personal connection with the one(s) from whom they take direction, even going so far as to desire a “buddy” sort of status.

[we can examine the positives and negatives of this hope at another time]

However, here is where the axiom comes into play… A young leader should not expect something from his/her leader which they are NOT willing to live out themselves, even if it scares them.

You can’t treat your leader as an emotionless robot when making “your” decisions that affect them and then hope to receive empathy and understanding in the highest degree when they are making critical decisions that will have a personal impact on you. You shouldn’t expect a corporation to have sensitivities, patience and grace with regards to the end of your partnership together if you would quickly exchange your partnership with them for one that is slightly more affirming or lucrative or personally beneficial in some way.

BOTTOM LINE: to become a leader with defining character & principles, you must live out your early convictions in every environment possible to test them and to help develop and shape the very environment of which you hope to receive the value of your principles being lived out by others – - – - you ALWAYS lead by example.