Knowing the time to lead

When is the right time to lead? This is mostly one of the controversial questions among emerging leaders. Or some would put it in a more fascinating or attractive way; when will it be my own time to lead? Knowing the time to lead is not to know or to determine the date you would be called to an office; rather, it is about knowing when you have full confidence in yourself that you can lead the man in you to power and can as well manage yourself in the seat of power. When you have this confidence in yourself, you have the trust that you are there to lead, not just to acquire power.

It is not documenting the day you assume an office, or knowing the time you are fit enough to be given a title but it’s knowing the very time you can bring out the best from the person close to you. To serve the person to the extent of bringing out the best in them, this is when you’ve just started leading. Now, at this point, you will have to do everything possible to bring out the best in the people you’re leading, you would have to do everything visible to come out of a myopic vision and see farther to a brighter future.

Leadership is really tasking but when you know you have the strength to transfer your leadership skill or potential to others, a generation is about coming from you. This is when you know that the worth of service can never be compared to money, and the value of a human being can never be placed on landed properties.

Tom Scott led Andrew Carnegie to build the biggest bridge in America then, in 1873 (when the project started). Before this time, Carnegie was in Scott’s steel company at the age of 12, just to get a means of survival and help his family out of their poverty state. Immediately Scott sighted him as a very smart boy who was diligent and intelligent, he made him his personal assistant and this started his journey to becoming the man who eventually became the owner of the biggest steel company of his time, and built the tallest skyscrapers in Chicago at his time.

The zeal in Carnegie brought Scott so close to him, and led him in the right way to become the great man he had wanted to be. It is very rare to believe that it was Scott who had the vision of building a bridge on the Mississippi River and brought Carnegie there to share the vision with him. Though the question he asked him was: ‘Do you think it is possible?’ As soon as a possible response was heard from Carnegie, he won the heart of Scott to start up this vision. Carnegie ended up becoming greater than his mentor Scott but his joy was that someone led him to fulfillment.

Now are you still asking, when is the right time to lead? This is the time I would say you have just discovered the worth of the life you have and want to live the life to its full potential. Impact is not made in the grave and you no longer have influence when your breath is gone. The best time to make the best out of your life is now and you can only achieve this when you have discovered that the life you are given is not ultimately for you. The beauty of your life is the fact that others are benefiting from it. If nobody is gaining from your life, your life is not better than the person in the grave. ‘If I can do it, others can do it, even better.’ That’s the statement of a leader; they always see the big strength in someone who is struggling to get to know their vision.

To know the time to lead, your vision must be so clear and you’re convinced about it. Your vision, physically seen as the sight, is the direction and the strength that leads you to your destiny. If you are not clear about it, there’s no how you can say you are living a meaningful life. This is the assurance that would bring out the strength of others to birth a new vision for life. Scott’s vision was very clear and Carnegie followed suit.

When you have a passion that is not easy to silence, then is the time to lead. Passion is the spirit that drives you to achieve a vision and it’s so strong that it’s still bouncing in the face of discouragement. When you have the strong drive to be the source of the encouragement you need, even before you get encouraged by others, then the time to lead is now. You don’t need to attain all the degrees but once you have a clear vision, you can take a step to transform someone’s life, making them know they have a vision to bring to reality.

Omotayo Olatunji can be reached via [email protected]