Just yesterday, I listened to Tony Blair share his personal thoughts about succeeding in life. He shares with a lot of humility and immediately connected to the hearts of the participants. Here are ten things he wanted us to know:

1. Have the humility to learn- as Prime minister, he did not carry a mobile phone. The next day after his ten’s years of being prime minister, he finally carried his first mobile phone. Learning to send a text message was challenging enough and he had to humble himself to learn from younger people on how to use technology. Have humility in what we do is important.

2. Start with an analysis of your current situation- everything in life is inter-connected, we need to understand that there is a bigger world outside the country we live in. The speed of change is very real and what are we doing right now in our current situation?

3. In a fast changing world, we can’t stand still. People have to adapt and constantly learn new things in the knowledge based economy.

4. New thinking and new ideas don’t come to closed minds- How open are our minds? Do we see opportunities instead of trouble?

5. Success = Reaching our potential through education. It is only through education that we truly fulfill our potential. Many people in the world have potential but are not able to fully realise it because they have not seen what they are capable of reaching. Education can help a person see this.

6. Change is the hardest thing- Every time you want to change something, everyone around you will tell you that it is a disaster. He shares about how he wanted to implement healthcare reforms and there was so much resistance he had to go through. This was not something that was popular with the people, but he felt that it was necessary for his country’s sustainability. It is very helpful to get stakeholders to support you and help you through.

7. Success is about creating great partnerships between individuals- Collaboration and partnerships are important in daily living. Purpose of collaboration: To fight for a better idea! The reason why Tony fights for freedom and against terrorism is because he believes in a greater idea that people should not be oppressed and should lively freely.

8. Partnerships and prejudice cannot co-exist.

9. Success is not about doing something, but believing in something. Values do matter alot. Successful people are single minded in their purpose, but not self-centred.

10. Have a sense of optimism in what you do- You will not succeed if you are afraid of failure. Always believe that what you do can lead to greater good.

So… what is one point above that is meaningful to you? Do leave your comments. I love to read your personal thoughts.

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This is really a tough question. There are many incidents when leaders are always tempted to show their followers that they are the best in what they do and they can never fail. We all like to support people who are always decisive and confident in what they do. However, when leaders fail in certain areas of their lives, should they reveal it?

In one of the leadership seminars given by the no. 1 Leadership Guru, John Maxwelll was asked the above question. One of the participants was concerned that if leaders are not placed in a good light, they will lose their respect and authority in the organisation.

John asked back a question, “You mean to say that your followers already do not know that you have these flaws? Every single day they are in contact with you and yet they cannot see it?” How gullible am I if I still think that my team members do not know my short-comings.

One of lessons that I have learnt as a Leader in my organisation is to be quick in acknowledging my flaws. I must admit that pride and ego do occassionally scream out loud telling me that I should not do it. Despite of this, I went ahead and shared with the rest of my team. It made a BIG difference. They saw that I was transparent and am willing to make amends. Not only that, they knew that I was humble enough to acknowledge my mistakes. This resulted in creating trust and accountability on my part to the team.

So the next time you make a mistake, what will you do?

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