Rinse your Cottage Cheese and other Great Leadership Tips

A great leadership tip is like a good toothbrush to a dentist, it helps a leader brush up on their skills and not get bogged down by plaque!

Leaders are not simply born, they are made. I assume Winston Churchill never woke up one morning and said, 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I am now a leader'.

This is the thing: leadership development is not just gleaned from a one off conference where the facilitators are nice enough to let you get to keep the name-tag! The leadership development process is a day-to-day adventure, of grabbing hold of God-given dreams, inspiring others to help you, and to change the world in the process!

Amongst the plethora of leadership teachings, tips and ideas, leadership Blogs, leadership articles and great leadership books, here's another Blog post. A Blog post that offers ten leadership tips and will take you a step further along the adventurous road of leadership discovery and growth. 

So here is my 'Rinse your Cottage Cheese and other Great Leadership Tips' post:

Leadership Tip No. 1: Rinse your cottage cheese. One small step of discipline can make all the difference. Jim Collins in Good to Great writes:

The analogy comes from a disciplined world-class athlete named Dave Scott, who won the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon six times. In training, Scott would ride his bike 75 miles, swim 20,000 meters, and run 17 miles - on average, every single day. Dave Scott did not have a weight problem! Yet he believed that a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet would give him an extra edge. So, Dave Scott - a man who burned at least 5,000 calories a day in training - would literally rinse his cottage cheese to get the extra fat off. (p. 127)

Leadership Tip No. 2: Integrity  and trust are the foundations of leadership. Without good character, and developing trust, sooner or lately the foundations will crack.


Leadership Tip No. 3: A positive mental attitude is much better than a mind that wanders down a road of negativity.


Leadership Tip No. 4: Without vision the people wander aimlessly (Proverbs 29:18).


Leadership Tip No. 5: Developing leaders who develop other leaders creates multiplication.


Leadership Tip No. 6: The sweet potato credibility test - You cannot take a sweet potato and sniff it, bake it and garnish it, and thus make it into a normal potato. It will always be a sweet potato. Likewise, you cannot dress up someone without good character and sustain credibility for very long. People will see right through it.


Leadership Tip No. 7: Leaders have a different vocabulary. You do not hear words like mediocrity, apathy and half-heartedness often. Tenacity and perseverance is the order of the day.


Leadership Tip No. 8: Godly leaders set their hearts on things above (Col 3:2); not on worldly success, fame, fortune or any other hedonistic ambition.


Leadership Tip No. 9: Proximity changes perception. Allowing people in your circles of influence to be involved in understanding your decision making processes, and to be up close and personal to the leadership challenges you face, will change their perception. Proximity builds understanding. How often have you whined about a Prime Minister, Queen or President? Now, how often have you been inside their office, read their emails, understood the pressure they are under and worked as hard as they work? Proximity changes perception. 


Leadership Tip No. 10: Leaders create, build and sustain momentum. Like the winning team in a game of football, the momentum shifts. It is hard to knuckle down what this element is, but holding on to it is great!


Now that you have brushed up a little on some leadership tips, keep scrubbing and check out more leadership tips and teachings here.

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