[The following is a short exerpt from my forthcoming book, The Modern Leader: 8 Rules For Tomorrow’s Top Leaders, due to be released later this year.]

Leadership training professionals such as A.L Williams call it being a ‘Two Percenter’; Dr. John Maxwell declares it being a ‘Champion, and Mark Sanborn would call you a leader with a ‘little l‘. All of them would be referring to becoming a master motivator.

A master motivator is someone who excels at illustrated leadership, a term I use for leading by example. It is simply the greatest motivator of all time. Without the need to say a word, leaders can effectively influence others. They understand that a person’s perception of you is driven by your actions and are constantly developing their motivational skills.

Actions are the magic ingredient to making leadership better.

I have found that people want to do business with companies and individuals who follow through with their Core Values, not merely print them on their website or claim they are values they hold. They live them daily.

One day, I needed to have some work done on my wife’s wedding jewelry. I took it back to the store where I had purchased it. Like so many other businesses, they had their ‘Customer Dedication Policy’ proudly displayed on the wall. However, it is not what I could see but what I was not supposed to see that keeps me doing business with this jeweler.

On a back-office dry erase board, a hand-written note expresses the essence of a master motivator brilliantly. It simply read, “Every job is a reflection/self portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.”

The sign got me thinking, “Do I autograph my life with excellence?” A leader’s mark of excellence is not what they say but what they do. There is no better way to display illustrated leadership than letting your actions paint a self-portrait of yourself.

[Exerpt from The Modern Leader: 8 Rules For Tomorrow’s Top Leaders. Due to be released Late 2008. Helping leaders find their voice of influence. Gen-Y to Baby Boomers will love this candid look at being one of tomorrow’s top leaders.]

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