Leader - Peter Varholak

Welcome Leaders! Honourable president, dear toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and most welcomed guests.

What characteristics are important in a great leader?

I believe most important traits of a great leader are three.

A) Great leaders are people that constantly learn and adjust to new situations the faster the better. You are learning new things with your own pace. You want to learn faster? Leave your comfort zone, do things you fear to do, learn on your failures... Statistics suggest that 70% of leaders learned their most important lessons through challenging situations and hardships.

B) Great leaders are great communicators. Would be Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King or even Adolf Hitler so well known if they weren´t great communicators and unable to move masses?

C) Great leaders have vision or path that share with other people and help them walk on this path

Sun Tzu Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher 2500 years ago said "On the field of battle, the spoken word does not carry far enough: hence the institution of gongs and drums. Nor can ordinary objects be seen clearly enough: hence the institution of banners and flags." On the battlefield general´s vision is victory in war. In toastmasters your vision is to become great leaders. And our banner is one of the symbols of this vision.

How much the great leaders influence people?

I tried to find some statistics how much can actually leaders influence effectivity of their teams. Acording to one study good leaders can influence effectivity of their teams in average 30% more than average managers. The worst leaders' departments experienced average annual net losses of 800 000 pounds, while those of the best leaders netted profit of nearly 3 million pounds. Good leaders contribute about 48% higher profit to their companies than average leaders.

Let me tell you something about us. This data are on my handout given to you. On average more women attend club than men. People in the club are highly educated. More than 70% have bachelors degree or more than that. Around one third has senior leadership role or higher and 8% are CEOs or owners of companies so it means it is around 7 people in our club. I will be so daring. How many of you have this position or equal? How many of you would like to have this position? Only 2,5% of members are unemployed. Half of the members earn 50 000 pounds or more yearly. Statistics on the other side are also interesting. There is why people come to the meetings. Is it familiar with my 3 main points what create Great leader?

Why did I say that you are leaders? At the toastmasters you are actually learning more less all of three skills of the great leaders. You learn and adjust to new speaking or leadership roles. You are learning how to communicate. You have a vision of becaming competent communicator of distinguished toastmaster or maybe vision to became CEO or owner of a company or vision of high earning potential. And I believe all of you are learning how to become not good leaders but leaders that are great, excellent and brilliant.

Thank you