Willigness to Invest Time

Willingness to Invest Time is the next quality that Brady and Woodward include in the Trilateral Leadership Ledger's factor of Tasks.

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines Willing as:

1 : inclined or favorably disposed in mind

2 : prompt to act or respond

3 : done, borne, or accepted by choice or without reluctance

4 : of or relating to the will or power of choosing

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines Invest as: to make use of for future benefits or advantages

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines Time as: the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues

 

So, combining these definitions, The Willingness to Invest Time is:  inclined to make use of for future benefits or advantages the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues.  In other words, effective leaders are inclined to use their measured periods for future benefits or advantages.

 

Leaders invest their time in order to succeed! 

 

Now, the question begs to be asked, to what should the aspiring effective leader invest their time?

 

The answer to this question should not surprise you.  Effective leaders invest their time in people, in themselves and their own growth, and in the future of the organization for which they are working.

 

To invest in other people, the effective leader truly cares about their people and actively looks for ways to support them and to assist in their professional growth and development.  Basically, the effective leader has their back!

 

To invest in themselves, the effective leader is constantly growing.  Leaders are readers and are always expanding their knowledge base and their mental horizons.  They are constantly learning.  It was the great Renaissance artist Michelangelo who stated "I am still learning." after all he had accomplished.

 

To invest in the future of the organization, the effective leader takes a proactive approach to planning and implementation of the vision, mission, and goals of the organization.  They are constantly asking, "How can we better implement our vision and how can we best get to where we need to be?".

 

Time is the one resource that is non-renewable.  When it is gone, it is gone.  The effective leader is willing to invest the time that they have on the things that matter!

 

Time wasted is time lost forever!

 

Chris Brady & Orrin Woodward: "Launching a Leadership Revolution."  Business Plus. New York. p.97