The following information is published with ROUNDALAB's permission from the ROUNDALAB Reference Manual compiled by Richard & Jo Ann Lawson, 1987.

How Do You Spell Leadership?

Herb Egender

Learn to get excited about what you are doing. Enthusiasm is contagious. Love the people you work with and the square dance movement you represent.

Examine your own motives for wanting a position of leadership. Do you want to serve others, or are you merely serving your own ambitions and boosting your ego?

Avoid arrogance, impatience, irritability and resentment. Adapt to the group and adhere to a code of ethics. How you play the game, that is, attitude is important.

Develop a sensitivity to the needs of others. Leadership is a guiding force. Diplomacy, not demands; delegation, not dictatorship - these are essentials of good leadership.

Establish goals and evaluate progress toward those goals periodically. If you do not know where you are going, how can you effectively organize available resources to get there?

Responsibilities of many kinds accompany any position of leadership. These include responsibility to yourself, to your family, to your peers, to those you lead, and to the square dance movement.

Set the example!! Once you become a leader, you are in the spotlight. People watch to see how you act, how you dance, how you dress, how you speak. Often actions do speak more loudly than words.

Have the courage of your convictions. You know what is right. Do it! Do not be persuaded by selfish pressure groups or vocal dissidents. Lead rather than being led.

Is what you are doing the best interests of square dancing? That is a good yardstick. Integrity, initiative, imaginations, and indifference to personal gain should characterize your actions.

Pride in your profession, position, and organization and those you represent should be reflected in your leadership role and in your personal activities.

These thoughts are not necessarily original, but are derived from much reading and research and many sources. Thanks to those whose ideas I "researched".