"I am organizing an Easter Egg Hunt for the neighborhood today and I wanted to know if your children will be coming?" said the confident voice on the other end of the phone. With a smile on my face I told Megan that absolutely Rory and Ce'Anna would participate. I was told to bring nothing but the children and to be there at one o'clock.
When the clock chimed one, the kids and I set out with plastic bags stuffed in my pockets for their treasures. When we arrived at Megan's house I saw all the other neighbor kids lined up with their parents anxiously dancing around. Some kids had baskets in hand and others had nothing in which to put their treats.
I wondered what the poor children without bags would do with their treats. Their little hands could only hold so many.
But no fear, see Megan was prepared with plastic bags for each child. She also had simple rules that everyone was to follow: if you find an egg, it is yours; leave the easy ones for the little ones; and there are 50 eggs hidden.
The kids charged all over and when all eggs were found, Megan gathered everyone around her while she gave each child a special bag with a small treat or gift inside. With wide happy grins the children set out for home.
At 11 years old Megan has begun to master what it means to be a leader. I watched both kids and adults listen to her directions and follow her orders to a "t".
You see good leaders are not born; they are created. It starts at a young age and develops. I think the challenge today is "what kind of leaders are we developing?"
Five traits of a good leader include:
1. Taking control of a situation
2. Creating events rather than waiting for them to happen
3. No fear or boundaries they are not willing to cross
4. Thinking of all consequences and preparing for them
5. Strongly asking or positively telling versus apologetically questioning
Megan exhibited all of these traits at her tender age, yet I see some adults struggle with this well in to their forties and fifties.
Do you exhibit all of those traits?
Remember leadership is NOT a position; it is a way of thinking. I have seen receptionists command more respect and leadership than some management. So take charge today and not only be a leader but develop leadership in your children for they are our future.

The essential elements of Personal Development and leadership quite honestly go hand in hand. However, the personal development component of transforming to a leadership role is critical toward becoming a well rounded individual in the arena of self improvement. The vitality of forming oneself to be successful in the work place is imminent. To be an excellent leader, one has to have influence upon others in the path to leading a company, project and personal affairs. With the unstable affairs of our current environment the time is appropriate for good solid people in leadership roles. More today than in recent history has there been a demand for decision making that will probably have unpopular outcomes.
Let's be aware of the learning processes that are needed to take place with personally developing yourself and your effort of becoming a leader. The learning processes will become quite personal and changes will evolve; therefore, one needs to work with a true sense of openness in finding the fit of your personal leadership character. The active perspectives to identify your course of action are a necessity.
To develop oneself an individual has to be involved in meaningful ways of hands on experiences in interactive people relations. There needs to be the training of personal development and leadership techniques. This is what we call in this industry hands on experience. One needs to have a resume that will go along with all the academic accomplishments. Investigate areas of interest and begin to development a chart of yourself that will not only be fun but prudent.
Remember people like to align themselves with well rounded experienced professionals, so it is very important to align yourself personal and leadership ventures that can development your skills. The future leader will need to identify and relate to a multifaceted population of individuals. There needs to be a method to your intended aspirations.
Always be prepared to better yourself through openness of feedback from those you will be leading, this will keep you in forefront of learning, teaching and executing progressive successful business plans. Be prepared for flexibility as flexibility usually brings about opportunities which could be customized to fit your desired results. It will be these transformational aspects of your development that will put you in the role of a technician; a technician designed to carry-on in the road to being an consummate leader, who has their act together personally.
Personally developed leaders enjoy learning and teaching and so therefore, be prepared to move-on as Leaders like influencing other for the purpose of the company's visions and mission statement. Remember to always have your skills in order as you seek the endeavor of higher performance. Never forget about the communications skills required in personal and leadership development of the next level of performance.