Whether you are leading a team of thousands, hundreds, tens, or just yourself:

Purpose, Plan, People and Priorities are essential for success.

Without these four P’s of Leadership you and your team are like a boat without a rudder, drifting on the sea in an unknown direction.

Leadership is about choosing the destination and navigating the ship on the right course.

Purpose

Before you begin to lead a team you need to clearly understand where you and the team will be when success comes.  Only then can you articulate the greater good to your team members so they understand where they will be when the team is successful.

“There is one quality which one must possess to win, and that is definiteness of purpose” – Napoleon Hill.

Plan

Once you are clear on your purpose, you must plan a course to reach that purpose.  Great leadership requires that the leader navigate the team to success.  Sailors understand that the wind and waves can shift in a moment.  Successful sailors know how to adjust their sails and sometimes their direction to make use of any wind conditions to achieve their purpose.

 “Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success.”  – Pablo Picasso

People

You brought your team where they are today, but you can’t bring them any further on your own.  No matter how clear your purpose is, no matter the strength of your plan, if you want to extend the positive results beyond what you are accomplishing now, you will need to make room for others to share in the success of your leadership journey.  You must surround yourself with the right people.

“Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and the thinkers” – Denis G. McLaughlin

Priorities

I summarize the first three P’s of leadership like this: Achieve your purpose by executing your plan through your people.

In order to get started finding that solution, boil down the activities to the smallest step you can imagine.  What do I know my team and I can do tomorrow?