Business sense tells us that everything rises and falls on leadershipcreating commitment, creating a vision, building a team and getting the best from people. A leader takes us to a new place. We all have the capacity to be a great leader. Vince Lombardi said, Leaders arent born, they are made. And they are made just like anything else, through hard work.

Throughout grade school, high school and college, I was intrigued by a rather small group of gifted leaders whose self-confidence and unique ability to influence others always seemed to translate into high achievement. Several years after college, I accepted a job with the Federal government and set out to find out why certain individuals led the way and accomplished much while others simply followed.

Whether you work for a large corporation or are creating an entrepreneurial vision through your own company, leadership ability will be a primary determinant in your level of success. Leadership is about influence, and in todays changing business world, every employee needs to develop the necessary skills to be a person of influence. Are you someone that others would willingly follow? Influencing others happens because of a relationship people follow the person...and then their plan. The more you have to offer, the greater your sphere of influence.

One of the five principles of increasing your sphere of influence is developing your strengths. Great leaders invest in themselves as well as their employees by focusing time and resources to further develop areas of strength. Fine-tune your strengths and use the relationships youve cultivated through networking to assist you with the challenges you face in other areas. Then, build on the unique strengths of each individual in the organization, creating a powerful system of leaders developing leaders.

According to the American Society of Training and Development, companies that invest in developing their people consistently outperform organizations that do not by an average of 35% every year. Therefore, executives should be asking themselves, What will happen to the organization if I fail to invest in my employees?

As a small business owner, I understand that developing strengths will allow me to increase my sphere of influence as well. If entrepreneurs, like me, do not invest in what makes us best, we will be out-skilled and out of work. Investing in something tangible for our business like new technology or a better briefcase may be a good business decision. However, research shows that helping ourselves become more of what we already are will pay us back ten fold. Leaders are indeed made through hard work. Develop your potential and realize the first principle in increasing your sphere of influence: Invest in what makes you best and network the rest.

As the President and C.hief E.nthusiasm O.fficer of Upside Thinking, Inc., Ms. Lisa Marie Platske brings passion and excitement to her work every day. Committed to transforming organizations, Ms. Platske teaches professionals how to develop a clear leadership vision, increase their sphere of influence and achieve long-term growth and steady profits. An energetic and inspirational trainer, leadership coach and certified True Colors facilitator, she has influenced the lives of entrepreneurs, small business owners and corporate executives with her call to commitment, challenging individuals to create a plan for excellence.

http://www.upsidethinking.com

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