Being a leader is about living your life in a way that inspires or encourages others. Here is the fourth in my series of monthly newsletters, each with a section on the skills you need so you can be a leader of your life. To lead is to serve. If you make it your goal to do the best that you can and to help people, then you can't fail. I encourage you to commit to keep learning.

The content below is extracted from Mike Holt's Leadership Skills - Taking Your Career to the Next Level.

Your conduct is one of the first things about you that people notice. If you want others to see you in a positive light, surround yourself with people who are already viewed that way.

Think about those people you choose to hang around with.

• Are they well spoken?
• Do they constantly use profanity when they speak?
• Are they responsible or unreliable?
• Does their conduct command respect?

If the goal of your friends isn't the same as yours, you might want to distance yourself from them a bit, and make sure you associate with people who have the same aspirations and goals as you do. As you grow you might lose old friends, but you'll make new ones. Stick to your commitments to yourself and to serve others, and you'll be surprised to discover how many of your friends grow with you! Let your conduct instill confidence of others in you.

Just as you can choose to have a positive attitude, you can choose to conduct yourself as a respected, reliable, knowledgeable person with integrity. This is important if you want to succeed. You might not have the right role models around you to learn from, but start to observe successful people, especially leaders in your industry. Notice the way they enter a room, what impresses you about them, and how they interact with other individuals with assurance and confidence. Their successful habits can become yours.

In life we can't always control the events around us, but we can always control the way we react to them. Our conduct says a lot more to the world about us than our words. You should ask yourself what your conduct is saying about you every day.

We'd love to hear from you about this series, and the ways you're using it. Send us your comments and feedback by clicking on Post a Comment below. Look out for the next part in this series a month from now, and please share with your colleagues.

The above content is extracted from Mike Holt's Leadership Skills textbook.

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