Courage is strength. Courage is a distinct that separates a leader from a commoner. Courage is needed in every aspect of a leader’s path. Courage is needed to protect a leader's beliefs. Courage is needed to protect followers. Courage is more so, needed for a leader to take action, face consequences and make decisions. Nevertheless, it is also the one thing that many have decided to give up in their quest for greatness.

A common adversary of man, in his quest for leadership greatness, is always the dilemma of his beliefs and his status. More often than not, people tends to shift towards protecting the best of their own interest than to fight for what he feels is right.

Man are accustomed to staying in their comfort zone, be it for wealth or power. To be a leader however, one must have the courage to move out of that comfort zone to protect one's core beliefs.

Nelson Mandela, the first fully representative elected president of South Africa, dedicated himself to the struggle of his country. He fought for what he beliefs in even if it meant for him to be imprisoned. After his term of 27 years, he continues to fight for the freedom of his people and country.

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, fought for his beliefs of abolishing slavery in spite of strong opposition and the eventual civil war in 1861.

Martin Luther King fought for racial equality despite what we all called an "impossible" uphill feat.

Adolf Hitler, for all the wrong he has done, fought on his beliefs despite having the world against him.

A leader must be prepared to face adversity and support their people. These are the basic expectation of how a leader should be, in exchange of your follower’s trust and faith.

A leader should stand up to what he believes and do what is necessary to make things right. This includes protecting their followers from unfairness and stand up to their superiors if necessary.

A leader is someone whom his followers look up to for advice and direction, a leader therefore, must possess the courage to set directions and hold onto the dreams of his followers no matter what the situation is like.

Should the leader falter in his courage to do so, the morale, performance and the bond between his followers will too be shaken. On the countary however, that should a leader have the courage and spirit to do what he was meant to do so in the first place, even if he is not around, his followers will continue to live on his vision.

Apart from vision, courage is undeniably one of the traits that one must develop in his quest for greatness.

If you want to make it big in life, be it in your business, team sports, individual success, You need to have a vision. This is more so when you are building a business or running a company. Why is this so ? Because Vision is tied very closely to the triats of a good leader.

In short, Leadership is the key to a successful organisation.

Why are you in Network Marketing ? You want to earn financial freedom. You want to have a constant flow of residual income. Then again, how to you achieve that ? You need to be a leader.

How do you become more valuable to your company. You want to get promoted. Then again, you cannot do that if you are not a leader who can bring the company to new heights.

You want to be a business owner. You want to set up your own company and have your own brand name. Then again, if nobody is helping you build your organisation, you probably cannot make it past the billion dollar mark alone. In order for others to work hard and voluntarily for you, you need to to be a leader.

So, what is the first step to become a good leader ?

A good leader is normally driven by his vision. Though unclear, he sees an end state of his vision. A leader will therefore act on his belief to make this vision a reality, taking every opportunity present and whatever works to convince others to buy into his vision.

The ability to visualize a possible future state for an organization has always been an important component of successful leadership. Leaders who do not have a vision do not have a mission. Since they do not know where they will be heading, they certainly cannot see the exciting possibilities a vision can engulf.

Without a vision, leaders have nothing to hang on to in terms of motivation and belief when they are presented with pressure and doubts from the people around them. How can they lead if they themselves are doubtful of their own purpose?

A leader with a strong vision has the strength to overcome any difficult situation presented to him. With a clear vision, a leader can create a picture of the future, therefore allowing him to priorities what needs to be done to realize the end result.

As stated, vision is an end state. It is where the leader wants to go and brings those who believes in him along. If the vision is weak, the leader is weak and if the leader is weak, there is no way he can get his followers to follow him. Without followers, there are certainly no leaders. In another words, a vision sets the path of a leader’s success.

I know this is a bit long winded but I do hope it presents a clear idea how important vision is. So, if you are building your own organisation, team.. have you tied a vision of your success in you mind ? If not.. I think its time that you do..

As a leader of the team, you will get plenty of credit for the team's accomplishments. Come to think of it, you are working together and riding on your teams effort. It is therefore you do not reserve all the credits to yourself. Instead, recognize everyone around you, let them know how much they mean to you, acknowledge their efforts by telling them what they are doing that is really terrific and how much they are being appreciated.

Some people have reasons for not doing this. They think the team members already know how much they are being appreciated and they don’t need to hear it again. How wrong can that be...

The recipient of appreciation NEVER feels that the thanks is unwarranted. People are way more accustomed to not being acknowledged for the things they do. So when you do acknowledge them, you create a bond and a trust that is rare and special. Think of the last time your name is being singled out or how your leader addresses te company's success by crediting the efforts to the employees. What was that feeling like?

If you think people already know their strengths and you do not need to remind them about it, then you are wrong. They may well know their strengths, but they often think others do not recognize it. So when you do point it out, that is a special moment for them.

To add, it also means that you are focusing on what is right with your team. They will all appreciate that. When you focus on what is right, you will get more “right” in return. That is what they will all strive to do. So your appreciation of others also helps to build your business.