Sanborn’s Six Principles of Leadership

Sanborn’s Six Principles of Leadership
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Sanborn’s Six Principles of Leadership
Leadership is a core and necessary aspect of any society. Over the years, scholars have strived to study leadership through different theories to understand the traits or characteristics of leadership. The Great Man theory, for instance, suggests that leaders are born, while the Trait Theory argues that some traits can only be found in leaders. However, Sanborn (2006) argues that one does not need a title to be a leader. Instead, anybody anywhere can positively influence others when they observe the six principles of leadership.
Leadership Principles
The six principles of leadership act as the guiding light for leaders to engage effectively, motivate followers, and inspire them to pursue a shared mission. These include:
The Power of Self-Mastery
The power of self-mastery implies that leaders must have a high sense of self-awareness. In other words, a leader must know and understands their values, personality, habits, needs, and emotions and determine how each affects their actions and the actions of followers (Eurich, 2018). According to Sanborn (2006), self-mastery is the ability to lead oneself because you cannot lead others if you cannot lead yourself. Self-mastery means controlling emotions, increasingly eliminating bad attitudes or habits, and focusing on what is essential at the moment and for the future.
The Power of Focus
The modern era of information and the intensity of personal needs make it hard for people to remain focused today. People are bombarded with excessive information, which makes it hard to maintain focus on important issues. Successful leaders must find a way to avoid destruction and remain focused on their tasks, goals, objective, and the mission and vision shared with followers. When a leader loses focus, their vision is in jeopardy, and the followers will not have the necessary inspiration or motivation to pursue the same mission or vision.
Power with People
A person is only a leader when they have people following them or following a mission or vision that the person has outlaid. Therefore, leading people, especially those with strong and diverse opinions, requires a high level of people skills. Sanborn (2006) emphasizes that such skills can help a leader get extraordinary results from ordinary people. In essence, leaders should realize that everything accomplished is not an individual effort but through the efforts of others. In essence, leadership should be power with the people and not power over the people.
The Power of Persuasive Communication
The hardest task is to convince a diverse group of people with independent thoughts to work together in pursuing a common goal or vision. While leaders may yield power to control, the control should be transformed into persuasive communication. Charismatic leaders, for instance, rely on persuasive communication to convince people to follow ...