Free The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in by Robin Sharma Page B

graves I had visited earlierthat morning. And to “The 10 Human Regrets,” still fresh in my awareness. God, it frightened me to even consider getting to my last few hours and knowing I’d die without ever having really lived.
    Anna knew she was speaking deeply to me. “Victims fall in love with excuses like, ‘I’m not the owner or the manager here, so I can’t do much to improve things,’ or ‘I’m not smart enough to lead change in the face of challenging circumstances,’ or ‘I don’t have enough time to do all the things I know I could do to make our company great,’ or ‘I’ve tried to be the best that I can be, but none of these ideas have ever worked.’ Victimhood versus leadership,” Anna repeated. “Flip the switch and tattoo the smarter choice onto your brain cells.”
    Anna then escorted me into the marble-floored bathroom filled with sophisticated toiletries and lavish accessories. “Close your eyes, please.” I did as I was told. “Keep them closed, Blake,” Anna requested on noticing me starting to open them.
    I could hear something squeaking against the mirror. But I followed her request and kept my eyes closed.
    “Okay, open,” Anna sweetly instructed.
    On the mirror, in red lipstick, was the word IMAGE written in capital letters.
    “What’s this all about, Anna?” I asked. This beautiful and exceptionally perceptive woman who saw herself as the Picasso of Housekeeping and her work as an art form was full of so many surprises.
    “Me and the other three teachers you will meet today will each share one of the four core principles that make up the Lead Without a Title philosophy. We’ll then give you five practical rules in the form of an acronym to help you install each of the four principles quickly and easily. This way you’ll automatically start creating some massively wonderful results for yourself. Sound okay?”
    “Sounds great.”
    “Excited?”
    “Super-excited,” I replied enthusiastically.
    “Wonderful. Then, without further ado, let me reveal the first principle. We’ve pretty much covered it already, but I need to share it with you as the formal law it was originally formulated as: You Need No Title to Be a Leader . I know by now you totally get this, but here it all is, summarized in that single and simple line.”
    “Understood,” I said gratefully.
    “Now the five rules that I’ll reveal to help you remember that you need no title to be a leader can be neatly summarized by the acronym IMAGE. These five letters stand for the elusive algorithm of leadership. Work and live by this little-known code that distills what real leadership is all about and you’re guaranteed breathtaking results.”
    “Can’t wait to learn this, Anna. You’re saying that for anyone to show leadership without a title, they only need to follow these five rules?”
    “I am, Blake. IMAGE truly is the elusive algorithm of leadership,” she repeated. “We’ve spent a fair amount of time discussing why you should lead in this time of remarkable upheaval and radical uncertainty. IMAGE distills the how . In five easy steps. If you’ve ever wondered how to do leadership, here it is—in its most simple yet powerful form.”
    “I’m all ears.”
    “Okay. The I in IMAGE will remind you about the importance of Innovation. We live in what I sometimes call Remake Nation. Yes, America is a superbly creative country that has given birth to many of the world’s greatest advancements and finest inventions. But too many of us in business here have lost the fire within our bellies for genuine innovation. We’ve stopped flexing our imaginations well past the point of normal. We’ve dropped our lust for creativity and our drive to be different. Just look at all the remakes of old movies or outdated songs and you’ll get thepoint I’m trying to offer you. People are just too scared to be too original these days, so they try to repackage a formula that was successful a few decades ago—with