Among the virtues that we hold so deeply at Gracie Barra are those such as brotherhood, cooperation, respect, discipline, and personal growth. Intertwined with these is the virtue of leadership. While we might envision leadership as the person on the podium, leading a meeting or a company, or the individual leading the class or community movement, the most important aspect of leadership is quite personal. It is what you carry within you – and that special extra something that must exist if any true external leadership can occur. When you build your leadership skills, you can positively influence those in your school, your community, and Gracie Barra as a whole.

Building Your Personal Virtue of Leadership

The Gracie Barra Code of Conduct gives us the following description of leadership.

GB Instructors shall lead by example, kindness, and care. The formal authority shall always and ever be supported by their moral authority built upon a positive, cooperative, and constructive attitude towards the students and other instructors.

Master Carlos Gracie Jr. gives us one of the best models we have of this type of true leadership. In fact, it was his leadership that enabled him to assemble a team that would help to build Gracie Barra into what we know it to be today, and what it has the potential to be in the future.

But in order to make your school the best it can be, and to make Gracie Barra reach its fullest potential, we need to have the tools and ability to build leadership characteristics among those who live out the mission of GB on a daily basis. The ICP5 gives us more history about Master Carlos and the 12 Commandments we can look to in terms of leadership, as well as descriptions of all of the virtues which are linked so closely to leadership.

Keys to the Virtue of Leadership

To best understand the keys to the virtue of leadership, let’s consider the one ingredient that will spoil the mix: blame. There simply is no room for blame, no room for shirking responsibility. Taking personal responsibility for everything will get you off onto the right foot. From there several other ingredients must come together in your quest to build your leadership skills.

Deep Honesty – When you are deeply honest, your integrity shows in everything you do and your students, your students’ families, your staff, and your community trust you. This trust is essential for building a strong leadership presence.

Continue reading the exclusive article Leadership: A Virtue for Positive Influence at vhq.graciebarra.com