When reading "The Secret" by Ken Blanchard we must confess that at the beginning it did not attract our attention, it is more we felt that his contribution was laughable because in the course of our life and of this mastery we have read a lot on the subject of leadership and self-help. Our interest and positive assessment of the contribution of this book began on page 64 where the author through the character Jeff points out "If we do not select the correct people for the correct position, we will have made a great leadership error", also We were deeply interested in the expression “when one member of the team performs poorly, other people suffer. (…) It is easy for them to get discouraged ”.
The expressions mentioned above have served as a reinforcement in what has been our personal and professional empirical practice. Whenever we have had the opportunity to lead, we try to place each person in the area that performs best, this has given us good results in achieving the objectives and has allowed the enthusiasm that is so necessary for a successful result to exist.
Being very careful in selecting future employees, knowing their personality characteristics, motivating them even not to take on the jobs for which they are offered is of the utmost importance before they are incorporated into the institutions where we work. Being careful in the selection of personnel is as valuable as the selection of a partner although we recognize that in the latter case there is the complexity of love.
The SERVE model, proposed in El Secreto, in our opinion can be easily incorporated into the lives of honest people who decide to develop leadership, since most of it is based on values such as sincerity, integrity, commitment and helping others to to develop their potential.
"Being able to see the future" is a basic question for the leader, it does not depend on a position, anyone who wants to be a great leader must always put himself before the facts, he must see them before they occur, the leader must not dedicate a lot of time in the day-to-day work but must always be the one who is ahead of the facts and the further the better.
"Involving and developing others" is of utmost importance for those who lead people, that is, getting people to reach a high level of conviction in their cause creates a commitment to what they do. This commitment and, at the same time, their development is achieved by taking advantage of the strengths that each person possesses, setting them clear goals, giving them the necessary information and training, allowing them to decide how to do their work and making them feel that we trust them.
"Continuously reinvent" in this phase we confirm that leaders need to develop fresh and innovative thinking, discover ways to improve our own knowledge and skills, be open to any training that helps us improve our performance and that of the people we lead.
"Assess results and relationships", to obtain results you must have followers to whom it is convenient to challenge them and offer them all the necessary support so that the expected results can be achieved. Some of the techniques to show that the results of the followers are valued are: listen to them in an interested and sincere way, dedicate time to them and reinforce the positive.
"Embodying the values" "what you do does not allow me to see what you say" in our opinion is what most and best describes true leadership, if a person wants to have followers faithful to his convictions in his life he must conduct himself in the same way in which he speaks. Not following people who are not trusted is evident even from childhood as children never do the things that their parents tell them to do but do the things they see their parents do. A true leader is of integrity, his actions confirm his words.
Finally in this phase we will allow ourselves to mention some expressions and questions from The Secret that will personally serve us forever in our professional growth, these are:
"You can learn a lot from people by the questions they ask". What are the main characteristics that interest you in the people you select? "Great leaders are always looking for talented people to incorporate into their organizations", "It is preferable to take the time to choose people who fit the positions and then help them enhance their strengths rather than having to correct the mistake later", "The goal of a leader is to enhance their strengths (those of their followers) and make their weaknesses become irrelevant "," People do not care how much you know until they know how much they care "," If success is defined between results and relationships, you will have to take some emotional risks ","People who want to be great leaders must assume an attitude of service to others" and "The ability to develop a capable successor is the hallmark of a great leader."
Source The Secret. Ken Blanchard, Norma Group, 2004.
