About Leadership

No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself, or to get all of the credit for doing it. -Andrew Carnegie.

Many martial art organizations have collapsed after the founder's death due to the founder's lack of concern in, fear of, or lack of skills in developing leaders within the organization. Most senior black belts develop many followers, but few take the time and energy required to develop leaders. Some reasons for this are:

Leaders are more difficult to develop than followers.

• Leaders are inquisitive by nature and this is often viewed as disrespectful or threatening, therefore, it much less threatening to only develop followers.
• Leaders want to lead, and if not allowed to lead, they may eventually break away and form their own organizations.
• Leaders are harder to find and to attract
• Many senior black belts want all of the credit for everything that is done; therefore, they will never develop leaders for fear of the competition.

It is only when we develop others that we permanently succeed. -Harvey S. Firestone

Leaders set goals, both for themselves and for their students. You train a dog to jump over a rope by putting the rope on the ground. Every time the dog jumps over the rope, he gets a treat. You keep raising the rope and giving the dog a treat when he jumps over the rope, until the rope is held just under the limit of the dog's jumping ability. Leaders should take a minute to look at the goals of their students and then look look at their performance to see if their behavior matches their goals. To help students to reach a high goal, keep setting easy to reach goals for them and gradually raise the level of the goals. However, do not set goals that are past their ability, it will only break their spirit. Goal setting is not an involved process.