Leadership demands respect, and respect has nothing to do with 'like'. It took me a long time to realize that 'respect' has nothing to do with 'like' and, similarly, 'leadership' does not have to go hand in hand with 'telling people how to do something'. It has everything to do with empowering them to do things for themselves.

To be a leader, we need to first start respecting ourselves. We need to show up every day in our lives and in our businesses and give both of them the respect they deserve. More importantly, we all know that we can not help other people before we help ourselves.

As a child, we naturally assume that our mother and father will be our leaders. At school, we expect out teachers to be leaders. As adults, every single day, there is an expectation of leadership from the many people that we come into contact with.

We expect our manager to make the right decisions and lead the company to success. We expect the shop assistant to lead us through our purchasing decisions. We expect bank clerks to lead us through our financial transactions.

Wed expect leadership in others literally every day. But what of the leadership we give to others? If we expect leadership from those around us, shouldn't we shoulder some of the responsibility of leadership too? Shouldn't we expect ourselves to also be a role model?

So, the next time you are standing in line at the bank, or cussing the traffic warden for leaving a ticket on your car, ask yourself this - Do you stand in leadership for yourself and others in every area of your life?

If you are a good leader, then congratulations, I can guarantee that your life and your business are thriving right now. However, if you're not currently being the leader that you should be, before you point the finger of blame at somebody else, remember that every time we point a finger, three more are pointing back at us.