Leadership and the Act of Choosing

By Niran Kulathungam, B. Sc., MTS, REIA

Leadership is one of those buzzwords commonly spoken about but not commonly shown. It is often proclaimed and often poorly practiced. Our bookshelves are filled with opinions on leadership but leadership seems to be a rare commodity… just look at the American election campaign!

How you lead yourself will be the most influential factor in your future. It is also one of the most challenging. You have to lead the hardest person in the world, you. You have to give leadership to the most challenging company, the company of you.

I believe that you are able to change the future. I believe that the dreams in your belly are worth fighting for. I believe that when you chase your dreams, you become who you truly are.

There is a lot at stake. It is not just about changing your future; it is about changing the future of those around you. It is not just about acquiring or accomplishing. It is far greater; it is about being and becoming.

Leadership is what allows you to buy your first property, your second, third or fourth, or your twenty-fifth. It is what allows you to take action. It is the difference between those who learn and those who do. Most people have goals and promises that they make, but only a few actually achieve them. To be a great leader you need to understand your own weaknesses and work through them to help you lead, that is why there are peer groups for CEOs as well as other helpful resources that can be tapped into so that leaders are able to face challenges and sort through them with a forward-thinking manner.

When leadership is called for, true leaders:

• Choose: They understand that between stimulus and response lives choice. Sometimes the choices are obvious, and sometimes they are hard to find. Sometimes they need to be discovered or even created. Regardless of what happens to them, leaders have the capacity to see possibilities and, most importantly, they have the strength to make a choice.

• Create: Leaders realize that sometimes a choice needs to be created and in most cases they have to create the environment around the choice in order to stay the course. Their response to any situation is often carefully thought out and emotionally responsible. They create the best possible option that is within their grasp, given the circumstances. The response and the manner in which they respond is extremely important.

• Cultivate: Once they have created the environment in which their choice will thrive, they work hard at cultivating and bringing life to that environment. They bring their actions into alignment with their commitment. They cultivate and nurture their commitment. Even though they are fully committed to your company, you may want to prepare your business in a way that it can also run with the same capacity in their absence. Losing an employee’s service due to unfortunate death or disability might cost millions of dollars to a company. Since they are the core members of the leadership group, they can be provided with a life insurance cover (visit www.keypersoninsurance.com to know more). This might help you to secure your company’s future in case, any mishap happens.

In my coaching practice, I’m often helping people to reflect on their present situation and to clearly identify their preferred situation. However, growth lives in the space between these two areas. Leadership grows in the area between the present and the future. I find that a lot of time is spent on the act of choosing and follow-through on that choice. It is about how to choose, how to create an environment for choice to become a reality, and how to cultivate that environment and choice so that the future becomes solidified in the actions of the present. Knowledge can be acquired and expertise can be outsourced. But the sole act of choosing is an area at which every entrepreneur needs to excel. This is where people need help. This is also the area where champions are born. This is the area where leaders rise to a new level.

Niran Kulathungam is an active REIN member who loves people and enjoys investing in real estate. He has been able to find solutions to overcome obstacles and adversity in order to successfully invest and forge meaningful relationships. Most of his portfolio has been created by building successful joint venture partnerships and helping others succeed.

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