This is an interview with Peter G. James Sinclair of http://www.motivationalmemo.com

1. Is it important as a leader to begin with the end in mind? Why or why not?

Firstly I want to take the time to thank Jered for the wonderful opportunity of sharing with his readership my answers to these 5 fabulous questions that he has posed to me.

So here we go…

Throughout the years I have led many organisations – from groups of young people, to sports teams, to numbers of employees, and then as a father of three fabulous children. And through all those experiences I made the mind-blowing, yet obvious discovery, that in order to be a leader we first need to have someone following us. As someone once said, that if you think you’re a leader and no-one is following you, you’re just out having a stroll.

But if we are in fact a leader, and do have people following us, then we best be leading them somewhere. This takes vision. This takes courage. This takes strong leadership.

The leader is the visionary, and because of that very reason we need to have a clear idea of the end in mind.

And no matter how many detours may need to be traversed along the way, the vision will be both the guiding light and the drawing force of all energies expended in the direction of the destination – by both the leader and their followers.

2. What do you think about goal setting?

I actually don’t think about goal setting. I breathe it. Goal setting is up there with oxygen. A very successful businessman said to me once, as a young and struggling entrepreneur, that if you don’t have a goal, then your first goal should be to get a goal.

For many years I played soccer or football as many people call it around the world. So with soccer in mind, can you imagine 22 players on a field that consists of all the line markings of a normal football field, and yet there are no goal posts at each end?

Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? Who’d turn up to watch a goal-less game? How would you keep score? What’s the point? The players could kick the ball around to one and other, but how could we measure real results?

So too with life.

Without goals in our lives we will not be able to engage others in the pursuit of dreams that could be of benefit to them. And as far as benchmarking or assessing as to whether we are moving forward in life, it would be like trying to measure the height of a building without a tape measure.

3. What do you feel is the biggest leadership challenge we’re facing today?

With the ascent of social media there are more and more people being followed than ever. Twitter allows us to follow and at the same time to have many followers. But does that make all those being followed good leaders?

I think the greatest leadership challenge in this day and age is for leaders to be authentic and transparent.

We have recently witnessed how through the power of the people dictatorships, that have been in place for decades, tumbled in days. Assisted by the power of media and social media, that same energy was transferred across borders and into other cultures resulting in the demise of other tyrannical leadership.

In answer to your question, here is what I wrote in an article entitled: The Future Is Now: 21^st Century Leadership (http://www.motivationalmemo.com/the-future-is-now-21st-century-leadership/)

‘For in this new world, men and women will gravitate towards leaders who are in the dark as they are in the light. Transparent, vulnerable and approachable.

And if leaders are exposed for whom they really are, in a questionable light, the customers, the clients, the followers, the listeners, the watchers – they will leave – and leave in droves. Governments will be overturned. Buildings will be vacated, and businesses will fold.

Unless the people are engaged in the conversation and allowed to contribute, and are allowed to voice their opinion in an environment of openness, they will seek greener pastures.

No longer is the leadership model pyramidal. The pyramid is long dead and gone, and has suddenly been levelled to unveil a landscape that is now broad and expansive, and where the leader has been offered the opportunity to embrace their followers in a spirit of love, compassion, respect and understanding.

People will no longer be told what to do. We saw this ever so clearly when the Berlin Wall crumbled, and cracks are already beginning to appear in other ideologies that have enclosed other nations in the past. With these will also fall the hidden walls that many a leader is currently hiding behind – whether in politics, education, organizations, charities, churches or businesses – the walls will fall.’

4. What’s the best way to motivate others?

You have a choice of three ways to motivate others. You can use a whip. You can use a carrot. Or you can help them to discover their personal strengths, or their inner passions and create an environment and a culture that allows for them to develop and to grow into the person they were created to become.

As a leader, to motivate others, you need to provide guidance, training, but at the same time learn to listen so that you really begin to understand their deepest desires and their most cherished goals.

It is then the role of the leader to help them every step of the way. For to be a great leader is to be one who has learnt the art of servant leadership.

And finally, the best way of all is to set a living example of someone who is motivated and passionate in the pursuit of their own goals.

In many ways motivation is best caught, rather than taught.

5. What’s the best way to motivate yourself?

The best thing to motivate yourself is to first do this….

1. Identify your strengths
2. Identify your weaknesses
3. Strengthen your strengths
4. Delegate your weaknesses

And in identifying your strengths I also mean identify your passion. Ask yourself these questions:

• What would I do with my life whether I was paid or not paid?
• What am I good at?
• What do I want to learn more about?
• What fires me up?
• What gets me excited?

And the best stimulant for motivation is then to get into action immediately. Don’t procrastinate. Do it now! Turn your motivation into moti-motion today!

Here’s to your success!

About Peter G. James Sinclair:

Peter G. James Sinclair is in the ‘heart to heart’ resuscitation business and inspires, motivates and equips others to be all that they’ve been created to become. Receive your free copy of his latest eBook Discovering The You In Unique at – http://www.motivationalmemo.com and add him on Twitter @PeterGJSinclair – today!