Leaders Only Need To Be The First
Being a good leader takes ability but being in the right place at the right time gives you that label too
Lead.
That’s the first part of the word ‘leadership’ and it’s the key to ship that holds the leader.
There are hundreds if not thousands of books and courses that exist on what makes a great leader, but none of these matters if you don’t take the plunge and be the first person to do something.
You may be the only person that does something new or goes somewhere new for now but that will change once others decide to follow your path. There has to be a first person to do something so that they can be known as the leading light in that field. Sure there are many fine traits of being a leader such as being authoritative, being able to delegate, and having the ability to communicate but before all of that comes the need to be the first person that shows curiosity do something new or goes somewhere different.
Take Christopher Columbus, for example. He was the first man to venture to America.
Okay, Columbus didn’t mean to discover America but he was the first one there.
Christopher Columbus:
In 1492, 1493, 1498, and 1502 he ventured west from Europe.
Although Native Americans were already living there his trips towards the westward began with the exploration and colonization of the land. Effectively then his voyage led others to America. It broke down separation and connected people with a place.
He introduced the rest of the world to what is now considered a world superpower.
Martin Luther King Jr.:
Martin Luther King Jr. was also someone who led others.
Although he was a social rights activist and a US Baptist minister during the 1950s and ’60s it was not for these roles that he was best known. Rather, it was for one speech that he made that motivated and inspired millions of black people and many white people to see color as being an irrelevant barrier in life. King’s speech in the early 1960s entitled “I Have a Dream” sought to change racism and segregation that was prevalent in the United States at that time.
Although these problems still existed even decades later, it was King who is still credited by millions of people for explaining how millions of black people feel.
Yuri Gagarin:
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is known for being the first human being to go to space.
Oddly Gagarin was a molder by profession but in the 1950s interest in flying saw him qualify as a pilot before he joined the Soviet Air Force cadet school. Then in 1961, he went to space.
Although Gagarin was lauded for his leading efforts he never returned to space again but instead helped others prepare for their journey as cosmonauts.
Never the less he went where no one had dared to go to before.
Neil Armstrong:
Eight years after Gagarin was the first to go to outer space, American Neil Armstrong was the first to set foot on the moon.
With over half a billion people watching his efforts on television, Armstrong climbed down from his space ship ladder, touched his feet on the moon, and said:
“That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Although Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins soon followed him on the surface, Armstrong got there just before them.
James Clark Ross:
Although there was an Inuit community residing near the North Pole by the time the first European reached there, for the most part, it was isolated for centuries before then.
Then in 1831, James Clark Ross who was an officer on his uncle John’s Arctic voyage of 1829–1832 was accredited as being the first European to discover the North Pole.
When he saw his discovery for the first time Ross was on a sled excursion and from there he opened the eyes of all Europeans to the North Pole’s beauty.
Be The First:
When we are children we are often competing for no reason other than we want to be the first in something.
For Christopher Columbus, Martin Luther King Jr, Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong, and James Clark Ross it’s difficult to find any other parallel between their lives and their personalities other than they were the first at doing some tremendous feat for mankind.
Leadership is not often taught of as simply being the first, but before you can lead anyone effectively you need to be in a position that is respected by others. How you got there is important for many, but being there is the main thing, to begin with.
Being the first at something allows the majority of people to know that you had a strong enough character to try to get there and to achieve this accolade also. Sure, there may be luck attached to how you got there but the majority may not think too deeply, but instead just accept that you’re the leader in that area.
So before you worry about how to lead take a plunge and just be the first because you never know that later on in your life lots of people may look back on your feat and accredit you as a great leader simply because you took that chance.
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