Just as there are specific traits or attributes of successful leaders, there are also factors which will sabotage one's leadership efforts and lead to failure. According to Napoleon Hill, these negative factors are a catalog of what NOT to do:

1. INABILITY TO ORGANIZE DETAILS Mastery of details in essential for effective leadership. No amount of “busy-ness” justifies neglecting the details of the business. As a leader, you should be prepared to do anything that might be required of you as a leader – including changing your plans or tending to an emergency. One of the best ways of mastering details, however, is acquiring the habit of relegating details to capable employees. Delegation is one of the most important details.

2.UNWILLINGNESS TO RENDER HUMBLE SERVICE Knights of old might have operated effectively from high horses, but business leaders don't. You must be willing to get down off your high horse and to perform any sort of labor that you ask any of your employees to perform. “The greatest among ye shall be the servant of all” is a truth which all able leaders observe and respect.

3.EXPECTATION OF PAY FOR WHAT THEY “KNOW” INSTEAD OF WHAT THEY DO WITH THAT WHICH THEY KNOW. The world does not pay you for what you know, but for what you do with what you know – or what you induce others to do. If you have taken all the leadership training courses and have expert technical knowledge in your field but are unable to lead your followers to work efficiently, you are not worthy of the name, or the pay, of a leader.

4.FEAR OF COMPETITION FROM FOLLOWERS If you walk in fear that one of your employees is out to get your job and base your leadership upon keeping that from happening, it will probably happen. It is far better for you to delegate authority and train your employees to do the best work they possibly can. That's the only way for you to multiply your efforts and “be in two places (or more) places at one time”.

5.LACK OF IMAGINATION It should go without saying that you need imagination to meet the emergencies and develop the plans that will help your followers work efficiently. You also need imagination to recognize a good idea that one of your employees may suggest. If you lack that imagination and fail to recognize and implement such good ideas, they will soon cease and you, and your leadership efforts, will be the poorer for it.

6.SELFISHNESS Nobody wants to follow a “glory hound”, a leader who is only out for his or her own aggrandizement. If you want to be a really great leader, let the “glory” go to your followers or employees. Most people will work harder and longer for commendation and recognition than they will for money alone. Those who receive neither condemnation or recognition will soon tire of their efforts.

7.INTEMPERANCE Moderation in all things is the watch-word. Your followers or employees will find it difficult to respect you if you are intemperant. Not only that, but intemperance – overindulging in sex, drink, drugs or anything else – will destroy your endurance and vitality. It's like shooting yourself in the foot.

8.DISLOYALTY This should probably head the list. If you are not loyal to your trust, to your associates – those above you and those below you – you will not be able to maintain your leadership for long. Lack of loyalty, Hill tells us, is one of the major causes of failure in every walk of life.

9.EMPHASIS ON THE “AUTHORITY” OF LEADERSHIP You lead by encouraging, not by trying to instill fear in your employees. There are two types of leadership: leadership by consent of those being led and leadership by force. Those who try to lead by force do not maintain their positions for long. If you try to impress your employees with your “authority”, you are trying to lead by force and have probably already fallen victim to most of the other failings listed above. If you are a real leader, you won't need to advertise that fact except by your conduct – your sympathy, understanding, and fairness – and by demonstrating that you know your job.

10.EMPHASIS OF TITLE CEO, CFO, High Muketty-muck. If you are a competent leader, you will not need a “title” to earn the respect of your followers. You must make yourself available to your followers and should eschew any formality or ostentation.

As you read over this list of factors that cause a leader to fail, you may be struck by the fact that they could all fairly reasonably be boiled down to this: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. That may seem like an old-fashioned morality, but it is still as true in 2011 as it was when it was first spoken or when Napoleon Hill wrote out his list of “no-nos” for prospective leaders.

Author's Bio: 

Sara Dillinger is a Baby Boomer herself and a newbie internet entrepreneur focusing on the Baby Boomer generation because she spent sixteen years serving as pastor in United Methodist congregations all over Kansas. Those congregations were made up primarily of Baby Boomer or older members, so Sara has developed some expertise with the Baby Boomer generation. Sara is now on leave of absence and living in Atchison, Ks. with her almost-thirty year old son and two cats. She also helps her daughter, also living in Atchison, with three sons, ages 8, 6, and 1, while their father is in Afghanistan. Her blogs are found at http://www.for-boomers.com.