Screaming Champions or Roaring Challengers? | The Roaring Lambs

The Roaring Lambs  is an illuminating leadership fable. Through the politics of the jungle and the strategies that aid survival, Sreedhar Bevara offers lessons of lasting value that will not only inspire but also help find the leader within you.

In this specially-authored piece, Bevara shares some quick tips on what makes a real leader and what you can do to stand out!

Attitude: Champion Vs. Challenger

A champion has more to protect than that of a challenger who has less to lose. The challenger has the flexibility to fight for a positive outcome. In that endeavor, she may lose in the worst case but has much to gain if she succeeds. Being a champion comes with the weight of existing responsibility and commitments, which at times can crush the person or entity.

As much the Challenger, the Champions too go through fear, apprehension, dreams and demons. If we look at great champions in different fields that have maintained their position, they have a couple of things in common, such as challenging their own strategies to put them ahead. They never behave like they need a break. They instead behave like a new challenger.

So, how do we manifest a challenger attitude in a champion?

Genesis of Leadership: Readiness to respond

Paying attention to moments of signals doesn’t necessarily guarantee that you will succeed at every effort. However, it can only help in dealing with the situations better and that must be the core objective. The readiness to respond to a situation is a critical factor in leadership.

Spontaneity is one thing, but readiness is another. Readiness means being alert to why and how such a situation has arisen. That essentially means a leader must remain absolutely vigilant to all parts of it.

Being able to respond isn’t an act of courage or bravery. It is an act of sensibility and necessity. That requires a full view of the issue. If challenges are imminent and unavoidable, there’s only one thing that truly shines out and that is the readiness to respond irrespective of whether one is in the position of a lion or a lamb.

Primetime Leadership or the Peak of the Leadership Life Cycle

The product life cycle concept helps to explain the idea of ‘primetime leadership’. Any product or brand prolonging its run at the peak is said to be doing things in relevance; the longer the period at peak form, the stronger the impact and legacy. 

Great leaders, despite their achievements, cannot stay relevant forever. A good leader might not be a good leader in every situation or organization. In this context, the ‘survival of the fittest’ is often misinterpreted. It’s not the fittest who will survive but those who can adapt. Adapting to varied situations is a survivor’s only choice. For them, leadership is all about ‘work in progress’.

In the leadership lifecycle, some exceptional leaders can expand their peak-bandwidth of staying atop for a longer time before the natural course of decline takes place. More than their sense and ability to read situations through contextual knowledge; it is their focused approach to nurture leadership pools around drives them to turn into Infallible legends.

Simple Leadership Hacks to Shine Brighter

Be kind and courteous.

Without these two very special characteristics, a leader is incomplete. They cost nothing to demonstrate and the returns are unimaginably positive, reflective and contagious. This is the fundamental step in recognizing the necessity of creating a positive environment. This also teaches us the basics of how we want to be treated, especially when in need. This sets the tone in how we want to tune our approach in finding and offering better solutions.

Know what you can control

We cannot control everything. It is important to define clearly what is in our control and what’s not, in a given environment. Because there are many external elements in our environment, balanced decision making is directly linked to our ability to analyze our surroundings and move in the right direction.

Design your day

We can set up our day with exactly what we want to do and what we expect from it. Sit for a few moments in the first hour in the morning to allocate time—it will give you an enormous sense of power when you organize the day and free yourself from anything that makes you waste energy, effort or resource. Review this at the end of the day and plan better for the next.

Collaborate to face the impossible and win big

There’s nothing that can be  achieved on one’s own. Forging alliances and collaborating with forces around will remain the key to win big and stay ahead of the curve. Only great leaders knows the value of collaborating both inside and outside. They also know when to collaborate with lesser forces and and when to with a major force. There’s no story in the world so far is without a collaboration and alliance. This is one of the biggest rules to sustain.

Your Will is Your Fate & Your Effort is Your Success

Your efforts are your winners. Your arrangement of shredding the task into small units and rolling along the way until the big day is one way of approaching the target. Struggle is inevitable. No preparation can be sufficient when it comes to facing the unknown and a small act of denial can lead to the end of great leadership stories. It is the mindset of the leader with a stronger will can decide the fate and define the renewed emergence.

To learn more, order your copy of The Roaring Lambs today!