The leadership section of our transformation and planning workshops are always great fun. We get to poke a little fun at global leaders we don’t like and look deeper into the traits of leaders that we admire and then reflect on our own behaviours.

Amongst the many traits we discussed this week was laziness. Being a lazy leader was posed as a weakness by an entrepreneur who left the corporate world to start her business. She explained it as “my former boss was so lazy; she was always dishing out her work to those around her”.

Digging a little deeper it was discussed and agreed that ‘laziness’ could in fact be a strong leadership trait– resulting in the creation of systems and processes to eliminate wasteful repetitive work, delegation to others to free up leadership time for more strategic activities, and best of all, sharing work with others to enable them to learn, empowering them with growth opportunities.

So, it seems that one man’s lazy is another man’s epic leadership.

And on the subject of epic, leadership is such a vital skill in the world – in families, communities, business and countries – that we all could do with reminders of how to get it right. For this I created the EPIC model, which goes like this:

E: Lead by Example. Remember that you are always ‘on show’ and others will model their behaviour on yours. So be sure to walk your talk and act in ways that demonstrate the behaviours you admire in others. Authenticity in what you say and do is a powerful leadership tool.

P: Lead with Purpose. Be clear what you are working to achieve and make this purpose clearly visible to others. Provide your team with the comfort of knowing where you are going, and why. Clarity of purpose makes it easy for others to understand what you offer and decide to follow you.

I: Lead to Inspire. Powerful leaders are masters in the art of inspiring others, helping others to see their inner greatest and empowering them to bring their personal best into the world. Those that foster inspiration in others, achieve far more than those who only wield a stick.

C: Lead with Consistency. Noone likes a leader that blows red hot and ice cold, so learn to moderate your highs and lows so that people can trust your consistency not hold back with fear of an outburst. Leaders that display a consistent strong brand message stand out from those that are weak and inconsistent.

So, this week, inspired by the room full of fabulous South African entrepreneurs on their way to growing strong, successful businesses and make a difference in the country, I’m personally committed to take ongoing action to improve my own leadership skills. Let’s make this an EPIC leadership week.