According to esteemed business leader mentor Dr. Kozhi Sidney Makai of Kozhi Makai Worldwide, “Great leaders have already started prepping for the New Year.”

Kozhi Makai Worldwide has been helping individuals and organizations transform potential into performance for 16 years. The company’s goal is to help individuals lead unapologetically through their strengths.

“Ultimately, leadership is about empowerment – in other words, influence,” said Dr. Makai. “A great leader must use this influence to move others towards specific goals using certain characteristics to draw greatness out of them.” Dr. Makai suggests that there are five things that great leaders do every single day:

1. Great Leaders Read – The number of leaders who read is declining. In fact, 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after graduation, according to Statistic Brain. Reading just one hour a day in your chosen field will make you an international expert in seven years. However, an hour a day may be difficult; commit to 15 minutes a day. Read an article in your field and learn more about your craft. Tireless educator and author Dr. Dennis Kimbro has written that formal education will make you riches but self-education will make you a fortune.
2. Great Leaders Foster Relationships – Great leaders know their limitations and surround themselves with competent and skilled friends and colleagues that they take on a journey to accomplish clearly defined goals. When workers self-identify as a having a “best friend” at work, absenteeism, injuries and disengagement drops, according to a recent Gallup study. Great leaders never have overdrawn relational accounts because they make consistent and frequent deposits into their relationships.
3. Great Leaders Communicate Clearly – Because a leader's vision, mission, and goals never take flight without clear direction, great leaders work daily on their ability to verbally, and especially nonverbally, clarify their intent to those they lead. Talk is cheap; as a matter of fact, Jeff Van Gundy, former coach of the Houston Rockets put it best: “What you do speaks so loudly, I can barely hear what you say.” Great leaders strive daily to listen much more than they speak; being avid learners, they understand that they learn more from listening than they do from speaking.
4. Great Leaders Serve – Servant leadership follows this code: whoever will be greatest among you must be servant of all. This counter-cultural perspective exemplifies great leaders because it insists on the most benefit to others, and rarely to oneself. The pinnacle of a great leader - even more important than meeting their mission, vision, and goals - is having made sacrifices that proved him or her to be the greatest servant of all.
5. Great Leaders Make Excellence a Lifestyle – Our world has changed – many work jobs they hate rather than passionately serve in a career they believe in. Because of that – and many other reasons – few practice a lifestyle of excellence. Great leaders, even while letting their proverbial hair down, practice the highest levels of excellence whether they are “on the clock” or not. The great leader's character of excellence, much like a tea bag, is revealed when dropped into hot water; yet, the flavor has been harnessed within, and has been awaiting an opportunity to be showcased.

“Each leader chooses what kind of leader they want to be,” Dr. Makai said. “Those leaders who harness their God-given gifts and potential and use them for the benefit of those who they have the privilege and honor of leading and serving are the greatest leaders.”

Kozhi Makai Worldwide is dedicated to providing value-driven innovations that improve the human condition, specifically providing clients with guidance that increases their self-worth and enables them to experience self-expression. Call Kozhi Makai Worldwide at 281-303-5307 to speak to Dr. Makai about The MAKAI Way® for keynote speaking, consulting, coaching and training. Or, visit his website at www.KozhiMakai.com.