What makes a great leader? More than likely, it’s their CEO mindset and leadership skills. However, these skills aren’t only for those with a successful business or leading a team, it’s also for the basis to live a great life.
That’s why Mindvalley teamed up with Monty Moran, the former co-CEO of Chipotle and the best-selling author of Love Is Free. Guac Is Extra. His vast knowledge and experience in transformational leadership have inspired the newest Mindvalley Quest, The Transformational Leader.
Monty’s teachings revolve around the idea that the foundation of leadership is love. And starting from there, the sky is the limit.
What are leadership skills?
Using their leadership skills, a true, effective leader inspires others to take action, solve problems, and contribute to a larger vision.
Monty adds that it’s a person’s highest calling. Why? Because the purpose of humans’ lives on Earth is to blossom into the best version of themselves.
What makes you grow into the best version you can possibly be is becoming the leader of every aspect of your life, be it career, love, friendships, or finance, you name it. When you’re able to activate your full capacity, you can lead these categories of life into greatness.
Examples of leadership skills
Here’s a list of skills that a leader could have:
- Ability to teach and mentor others
- Decisiveness
- Communication
- Compassion
- Creativity
- Integrity
- Initiative
- Critical thinking
- Decision making
- Adaptability
Additionally, to harness effective leadership skills, it’s important to have a clear vision statement for your business or personal life. This way, you can gain clarity regarding exactly the skills you need to work on more.
Why are leadership skills important?
Monty explains that having transformational leadership skills has everything to do with every aspect of your life. And this comprises your personal growth because you need to take care of your own development in order to achieve success in your career, relationship, or social life.
Nobody has ever been truly fulfilled by accumulating material possessions. The most fulfilled people in the world have been the ones who found a way to dedicate their time and energy to making the world a better place.
— Monty Moran, trainer of Mindvalley’s The Transformational Leader Quest
When you become a great leader, you inspire others to follow in your footsteps. And the underlying principle behind it, according to Monty, is that “the more we give, the more we receive. And the more we receive, the more we have to give back into the world.”
The moment you commit to developing transformational leadership skills, you’ll be committed to a life of growth and self-development. That’s why it’s important. Because it has everything to do with making the world a better place for you and everyone else around.
Leadership skills will transform your entire reality, including how you take care of your business, whether you’re just starting out or you already have 100 people working to make your vision come true. And studies have shown the importance of mastering these skills for overall job satisfaction.
Leadership and management skills: What’s the difference?
Here’s what Monty has to say about the difference between leading a team vs. managing it.
- Management means getting people to do something for you and manipulating them in some way to achieve your desired results. It’s about the carrot and the stick approach. In management, employees function more on the premise of “work hard or you’re fired.”
- Leadership is related to getting people to do something for themselves. It’s about the act of empowering one or more people to achieve a purpose that is desired by the leader but also allows the people being led to realize their full potential.
Leadership is far superior to management. It’s about igniting something in an individual that’s theirs.
— Monty Moran, trainer of Mindvalley’s The Transformational Leader Quest
Leading people is about inspiring them to go toward their own vision but that’s also aligned with your vision as a leader. Great leadership enriches others’ desires and dreams to achieve their purpose and unfold their brilliance.
Monty shares a powerful insight he heard from a friend that goes as follows: “It’s no such thing as passionate obedience. But there is such thing as someone working passionately for something they believe in.”
Is it possible to develop leadership skills?
Some people are natural-born leaders, like Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Serena Williams. But it’s not a pre-determined path. Leadership skills are traits that everyone can develop.
As Monty says, leadership is your highest calling, no matter where you are, who you are, and what temperament you came into this world with.
10 tips on how to develop leadership skills
You might question yourself: why would someone follow you? The answer is simple: you’re worthy of being followed. But to take command, it takes looking in the mirror as well as putting in the effort to develop those qualities.
Here are a few tips on how to develop leadership skills and assume your position as an inspiration to others.
1. Lead with love
A leader uses the power of love to harness the potential of others.
— Monty Moran, trainer of Mindvalley’s The Transformational Leader Quest
When you lead from a place of love, you move from egocentrism to serving others. And that’s why an essential concept to understand is that leadership doesn’t necessarily make you powerful. Or not in the generic sense.
However, it makes you capable of bringing forth the power of others. And that, indeed, holds strength and value in itself, which will also pervade your life.
Remember this: Monty highlights that the power you have now in the present moment stems from your ability to love others: to be present, curious, open-minded, and caring.
2. Create a healthy culture
When it comes to having a healthy company culture, it’s important to consider the following:
- Having a worthy vision
- Empowering people to achieve their own purpose
- Hiring and retaining a team of top performers
- Constantly supporting your team
Remember this: As Monty puts it, “A culture of empowered top performers makes a business more successful.”
3. Make everyone your teacher
Even as the one in command, one crucial leadership skill to master is always being open to learning more from everyone and everything.
Every encounter that you have can take you to the next level of leadership. So you can give your attention, curiosity, and focus to anyone you’re interacting with.
Remember this: Try to prioritize your entry-level employees, as they can give you powerful insight into what’s going on from a raw unfiltered perspective. Moreover, ask them what they need to achieve their dreams and potential and what you can do to lead them the best.
4. Inspire others with a powerful vision
Having a clear vision of your own will empower others to see what the right path is for them to take. It also provides a natural filter for having the best people around who resonate with your vision.
A compelling vision should be:
- Relatable
- Realistic
- impactful
Remember this: The vision you desire to create must be easy to understand, tangible in the sense that people feel like they can make progress to achieve it, and exciting, meaning that once it’s achieved, it will have a visible impact on everyone’s life.
5. Communicate as a master leader
Communication lies at the heart of excellent leadership.
— Monty Moran, trainer of Mindvalley’s The Transformational Leader Quest
In order to be a better communicator, you need to take into consideration:
- Being aware of how important communication actually is
- Communicate your expectations clearly
- Ensure that people know what their relationship to you is
- Let people know how much you value communication, honesty, and vulnerability
Remember this: Let people know the way you like to communicate, and what expectations you have. Additionally, ensure a safe space for everyone to open up regarding their concerns, boundaries, strengths, and weaknesses. A certain level of charisma as a leader will also ensure a developed ability to communicate.
6. Empower people by creating encouraging situations
Monty describes that the five steps of empowerment go as follows:
- Connect with your people
- Inspire them with a vision
- Instill confidence in them
- Teach them to make each other better (developing their own leadership skills)
- Share openly what is going on in the organization
Remember this: Empowering a team means creating a company culture where people feel confident in their abilities and are encouraged by their circumstances to devote their talents to a bigger purpose.
7. Stop chasing symptoms; solve the root problem
When problems arise in an enterprise, it means that there is an underlying cause that generates them. To solve the cause, you need to:
- Establish a clear vision so that you can see anything inconsistent with that vision
- Make sure there isn’t a lack of empowerment in your team
- Instead of focusing on the symptom, always go back to your higher perspective and only try to solve the underlying problem
Remember this: Leadership requires distinguishing symptoms from problems and being able to focus on solving the underlying reason behind them.
8. Ask the right questions in the right way
The ability to ask the right question enables healthy communication and may lead to the desired results.
When asking questions, keep in mind:
- Ask from a place of deep curiosity
- No judgment
- Let the other person be your teacher
- Pay attention to the emotions that lay underneath their words
- Show them that you relate to what they’re saying
- Never show disappointment with their answers
- Ask questions with deep respect
Remember this: Asking questions from a place of curiosity and no judgment will be perceived as appropriate, appreciated, and welcomed.
9. Listen to the wisdom of your subconscious mind
The knowledge we gain in this lifetime will pale in comparison to the knowledge available to us through our intuition, instinct, and connection to the wisdom of the universe around us.
— Monty Moran, trainer of Mindvalley’s The Transformational Leader Quest
You can gain lots of knowledge by connecting to the universal consciousness (some may call it the Universe, others may call it God). The most profound wisdom is not “ours;” rather, it’s part of the collective unconscious that we all have access to.
Remember this: To access this universal wisdom, you need to quiet your mind and have space away from thoughts, noise, work, and talking.
Your best thinking comes when you relinquish your effort and make space for true wisdom to arise within. This way, according to Monty, “we can make better decisions, live with more grace, live with more skill.”
10. Practice gratitude
Gratitude makes you a better person, therefore, a better leader, as people will see you as someone worthy of being followed. You can lead from a place of warmth, acceptance, and positivity.
Being grateful means saying “yes” to the present moment, which is the only place we can ever find love.
— Monty Moran, trainer of Mindvalley’s The Transformational Leader Quest
Remember this: Developing a practice of gratitude is one of the most powerful mental states that you can put yourself in. It can create a more positive and meaningful existence.
And others may find the inspiration to model their life after yours. After all, as the saying goes, leaders don’t create followers; they create more leaders.
Great change starts with your leadership skills
You may want to polish up your leadership skills, are curious about how else you can level up, or may be looking to be guided in having those charismatic qualities. These are all possible on The Transformational Leader Quest at Mindvalley, guided by none other than Monty Moran.
With his guidance and magnetic presence, you will learn how to:
- Level up your leadership skills
- Build a transformational company culture
- Motivate and inspire your people authentically
- Claim your power through vulnerability
- Supercharge your team’s performance
By unlocking your free access, you can try out sample classes from this program and many others. And the best thing about it is joining a community of like-minded, inspiring people who are also on their own journey to becoming powerful and effective leaders.
It’s all about taking that first step. Welcome in.
