The eagle has the following major leadership characteristics:
Fearless – An eagle has absolutely no fear of its prey, no matter what the size. You can find footage on Youtube of eagles taking on mountain goats! It’s like being a parent and seeing an attacker coming towards your child. No matter what the size of that person or what weapon they maybe holding, you would attack them without thought or regard for yourself. It wouldn’t even dawn on you to be afraid because your instinct is to protect that which you love and cherish.
Well, that child is your vision, your dreams, your legacy and that attacker is the human emotion of fear. You have to be fearless and attack fear; no matter how large it is before it attacks your future.
Tenacious – An eagle looks for and flies into storms. As storms approach, lesser birds head for cover, but the eagle spreads its wings and mounts upon the powerful winds, soaring to great heights. Eagles actually use the storm to lift them. Leaders use storms (challenges); we don't run from them. To leaders, storms are tools used for development. I believe it was Jim Rohn who said don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.
Nurturing - The eagle is known for its ferociousness, yet no member of the bird family is more gentle and attentive to its young. At just the right time, the mother eagle begins to teach her eaglets how to fly. She gathers an eaglet onto her back, and spreading her wings, flies high. Suddenly she swoops out from under the eaglet and allows it to fall. As it falls, it gradually learns what its wings are for until the mother catches it once again. The process is repeated. If the young is slow to learn or cowardly, she returns it to the nest, and begins to tear it apart, until there is nothing left for the eaglet to cling to. Then she nudges him off the cliff.
High-flier – Eagles can fly up to an altitude of 3000 meters, but they are able to swiftly land on the ground. The descending glide of an eagle can be anywhere from 80-120km/hr. Here’s the point, leaders are down to earth. You maybe the top dog in your company, but you must be able to touch people, so you have to know how to fly back down to earth swiftly. You must be relatable. Remember, the three obstacles you must overcome with your prospects: Know me, Like me, Trust me. Not possible when you’re 3000 meters in the air.
Eagles Never Eat Dead Meat - You will never see an eagle eating meat that it did not kill. An eagle is not a scavenger. It hunts for and kills its own food. It hunts for the prey while it's warm and alive. You as a leader must go to where the action is. You must go hunt down and find lively people to grow your business. Where is that? Forums, social media sites, Youtube, offline network marketing events, article directories, to name a few. Just be sure to bring the right bait when you hunt.
Vitality – An eagle is full of life and has the power to endure. By the time the eagle reaches about 30 yrs. old, life gets hard. Its physical condition has deteriorated to the point where survival is difficult: its talons lose flexibility and can’t properly grip their prey, its beak becomes dull and bent, its wing feathers get heavy and dull which impairs flight ability, but does the eagle cry woe is me, curl up in a ball and die. Absolutely Not!
The eagle retreats to a mountaintop and over a five month period goes through a metamorphosis. It knocks off its own beak by banging it against a rock, plucks out its talons and then feathers. Each stage produces a regrowth of the removed body parts, allowing the eagle to live for another 30 - 40 years. No wonder the Bible talks about God renewing our youth like the eagle’s.
As leaders, we have to renew ourselves through personal development and constant learning.
A great practical way to do that is to read 10 pages of a good book and listen to 15 minutes of something good everyday. It’ll transform your life. Leaders must have a holistic approach to life. Remember the acronym S.P.I.C.E. - Spiritually, Physically, Intellectually, Community, Emotionally. Develop yourself in each of these areas, without neglect to any.
Vision – Eagles have a keen vision. Their eyes are specially designed for long distance focus and clarity. They can spot another eagle soaring from 80000 meters away. Just like the eagle, all leaders must have vision. You, being the leader of your network marketing team, must have vision. You must have a vision that guides and leads your team towards the organization's goals. The vision must be big and focused. A big, focused vision will always produce big results. What’s your vision for yourself? For your team? For your family? Is it written? If not, before you go anotha’ further, stop and write it down. That is only if you really want to accomplish it.
I hope you have been enlightened as I was by gleaning from the leadership characteristics of the eagle. If you develop and use them, your leadership will grow and soar to great heights.
You may not have all these qualities, but the good news is leaders aren’t born, they’re made. You can learn to be a leader
