The world is fast-moving, ever-changing, and extremely competitive. Yet it is still possible to grow and thrive in this world. To do so you need to understand a few key lessons.

The first is understanding your impact and responsibility as a leader. Whom are you serving?

You need to understand who is listening and what the outcomes of what you are saying are. Even if you have good intentions if what you say is taken in a different way it can corrupt the message you are trying to give. Your responsibility is to ensure you have considered all the outcomes of what you are saying.

As Jack Welch puts it, your main responsibility as a leader is to serve and grow people. You need to define the outcome and destiny, or life will dictate your destiny for you. Here are a few points from Jack Welch that you should follow through your leadership journey:

Control your destiny or it will control you

Control or be controlled is the simple way of putting it. You need to define and create your destiny, as if you don’t you will be taken by whichever current is strongest. You know what you want in life, so define it and work towards it.

Face reality as it is

The world is constantly changing, and while it is rarely perfect, we need to face reality as it is. There is no point in pretending or working in a world that doesn’t exist. Understand the reality you are in and face it head-on. Don’t hide behind ignorance!

Be candid

The world is round and what you say and do will come back to you. Be honest in everything you do. Treat people right and in turn, they will treat you right.

Read

To grow others, you must also grow yourself. Reading is one of the best ways to grow yourself. It allows you to learn lessons from many great leaders. Take the opportunity and read more!

Change before you have to

If you wait for change to be inevitable, you have waited too long. Change and evolve continuously to stay ahead. See change as a gift, not as a curse! It’ll help you to change more.

If you don’t have a competitive edge, don’t compete

If you don’t have something special in your corner, something that will help you win, then don’t compete. There is no point in competing when you have nothing new to add or no way of getting ahead. Rather focus on finding your competitive edge and work at honing in on it before you start competing.

Leadership in today’s world is not easy, but it's not impossible. By working hard on yourself and serving your people, you can become the leader you want to be!