Leadership is about Adding Value and Top 10 Ways to Add Value

I just came back from an international convention attended by over 1,200 people.  Over a 3-days period, there were many discussions about leadership.  One person said that he was trained in leadership many years ago but now he needs refresher training.  Another said that many people are not trained in leadership and thus they were not as effective as desired.

I was glad that nobody said that leadership is about having authority, title or expertise.  At least this organization of 54 years in existence has got the right understanding of leadership.  But I was surprised that nobody defined what exactly is leadership, which is strange because they spent so many hours discussing about leadership.  

What's the best and most comprehensive definition of leadership?  It is Adding Value to People's Lives.  In this concept Adding Value includes Serving People.  So Servant Leadership is not one style of leadership, as what some people think, but one aspect of leadership.  Other aspects of leadership includes creating and maintaining order, changing people, making people happy, managing and administering effectively and being authoritative.

Since Adding Value is what differentiates a leader from a non-leader, what exactly is adding value?  It is firstly not minus value, not maintaining value but simply add on, add and multiply value.  Whatever you do, do not just do something, add value in whatever you do. There are 10 ways that you can add value easily on a daily basis without costing money:

1. Add Time.  Give people space.  Give people time.  Do not rush people unnecessarily.  Many people like to give people very short lead time and sit on it later, which is sinful.
2. Add Life.  A leader does not add years to people's lives, but add life to people's years.  Add life means to add meaning and positive emotions to peoples' lives.  
3. Add Happiness.  Happiness is pursued by everyone, and if you can make people happy, you are adding value.
4. Add Peace.  Peace of mind, peace of body and peace of action.
5. Add Money.  This is the most obvious, it's the Show-Me-The-Money thing.  Money includes non-monetary tangible benefits.
6. Minus Waste of Time.  Help people to save money, like don't beat around the bush when raising issues.  Also, don't ask people to do things that have no purpose, which is just a sheer waste of time.
7. Minus Suffering.  Everyone hates to suffer and a leader that can bring an end to suffering will be loved by all.
8. Minus Unhappiness.  This is milder than suffering but is the tiny irritations and inconveniences that add up to unhappiness.
9. Minus War.  Everyone hates war, and the biggest wars happening today are within ourselves.  It is the feeling of being torn between 2 things that are equally good. Like many people are torn between buying Samsung and Apple smartphones. 
10. Minus Wastage.  The biggest wastage in this world is a waste of energy, which is comprised mainly of mental energy.  Why is it that we can spend hours doing charity services and don't feel tired but the moment we are engaged in fruitless arguments we feel tired straight away?  Mental energy is the reason. 

Of course there are other ways to add value but I would consider them to be sub-points of the above.  Like adding knowledge, adding ideas, adding comfort, minus confusion, minus discomfort and minus headaches.  

By Andy Ng, whose leadership courses had, since 2009, reached as far as Africa's Tanzania.  Details of courses like How to Be a Better Manager, How to be a High Performing Employee and Limitless Selling are found at here.  Related articles:

1. Mind Your Own Happiness
2. Strong Leaders, Weak Followers
3. How to Catch People Lying
4. The best leaders listen: top 7 things to listen to
5. Dealing with Uncertainties in a Certain Way
6. Leadership with Sun Zi Art of War
7. Leading People when you've no money