How to be Known as a Brilliant Leader

Remember, value is a verb and a noun

I recognize and follow writers with leadership qualities in this publication. It’s evident to me they value the mission of the publication and share their writing interest and skills with other members. Fellow members recognize those leaders who value and encourage our efforts towards personal development.

On 29 March this year, Dr. Mehmet Yildiz published an article where he invited writers to “feel free to comment by adding other supportive values as feedback to this article, stemming from your personal and professional experience.”

Supportive values from professional experience

I find this expression explicit. However, this isn’t what I see in my Daily Digest. My membership started in May, and I’ve enjoyed reading volumes of the older articles on the platform. This background reading gives me a progressive perspective on the development of the writers and the publications. I gain a viewpoint of the professionalism and growth of the writers, and the supportive philosophy of the publications, especially this one.

I’m sure the professionalism of writers developed from their practice, from their reading, from how they support and mentor each other. I read stories from an editor who reached out to connect with new writers who showed promise but struggled. He negotiated with them for a win-win solution where everyone reaped the rewards and personal growth.

Are you offering value to your fellow writers? Have you reached out to offer a mentoring role?

Value is a verb and a noun

Below is a small example of synonyms of value. What expressive, positive words we can use for our fellow writers. Words we can use when we acknowledge their efforts in writing articles. Words we can use when we show their value to us.

Synonyms: cherished, treasured, dear, prized, favorite, precious, worth its/one’s weight in gold, special, appreciated, esteemed, respected, highly regarded, well thought of, appreciate, rate (highly), esteem, hold in high esteem, hold in high regard, hold dear, have a high opinion of, think highly of, think much of, set (great) store by, attach importance to, respect, admire, prize, cherish, treasure.

I confess I wrote an article poking fun at writers who build a following of applause rather than appreciation. I won’t do it again. And I won’t critique new writers.

How to improve diversity

An appeal in the same article from Dr. Yildiz included a call to action for ILLUMINATION members to introduce the publication in future articles by adding meaningful messages.

One of my intentions is to debunk myths on content platforms and remove unnecessary anxiety and fear related to diversity. We are a group of writers consisting of mature adults with a passion for communicating, sharing, and adding value to the readers from diverse backgrounds. As mentioned before, don’t be afraid of promoting yourself and your friends intelligently and appropriately. Promotion is essential for diversity and growth.

Synergy refers to producing a combined effect

Synergy, the interaction or cooperation of two or more organizations, substances, or other agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

As Dr. Yildiz suggests,

Action: Respond to at least ten articles in the next ten days, by extending and expanding the views of our writers. Rather than contradicting and conflicting, you may add your ideas to the equation and take the topic to a different dimension. A synergistic approach can improve our mental capacity and contribute to the recognition of our fellow writers. As a by-product, synergistic content can add value to our readers too.

Those experienced writers who’ve been here from the beginning could confirm this action and tell us the results.

Philosophies and guides

Submission guidelines are what guide us.

A guideline is a synonym for recommendation, instruction, direction, suggestion, advice, regulation, rule, requirement, specification, prescription, precept, principle, guiding principle, standard, criterion, measure, gauge, yardstick, benchmark, touchstone, procedure, parameter, constraint, and limit.

Submission guidelines are transparent and fair. Writers abiding by submission guidelines show a measure of respect and acknowledgment. Citing the source of our images is within the guidelines, so take note and don’t argue about it, if writing here is what you want to do. A few problematic people shouldn’t spoil the experience for others.

Editorial decision-making

Editors are respected volunteers. One of their heavy responsibilities is making decisions about the value of submissions according to the guidelines.

Surely if a conflict arises within the decision-making process, consulting with other editors may help. If the right of refusal to publish isn’t included in the editorial process or written into the publication guidelines for editors, then the editors need to address the omission for consistency of their decision-making.

Writers in this publication aren’t children, as Dr. Yildiz remarked above. His reference was ‘we are a group of writers consisting of mature adults with a passion for communicating, sharing, and adding value to the readers from diverse backgrounds.’

All writers need to be over 13 years of age to register and write here. If writers disagree with members of the editorial team about editing or appropriateness of the content of the article, then publishing it should be questionable.

Writers should think about the value and integrity of the publication.

Mentoring and helping writers

Support from great writers is visible in ILLUMINATION. However, criticism is rampant. What solutions do you see as beneficial to cut the criticism?

Repeating the questions posed above may give direction for further discussion.

Are you offering value to your fellow writers? Have you reached out to offer a mentoring role? Are mentoring groups available? Could a team of mentors help alongside the team of editors? Are opportunities available for peer review?

Advice on the platform about quantity versus quality is combative

Of course, the quality of your writing is essential, and the competency of the editors is why we rely on them to read all submissions and request resubmissions if necessary.

As I mentioned, I wasn’t a member in March. Still, I read this article where Dr. Yildiz reminds us of ‘the triangulation of cost, time, and quality’ in project management. He confirms how quantity and quality matter.

Dr. Yildiz challenges our growth in this article with the concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MPV) applied to our writing. His challenge is believing ‘short, impactful, and high-quality articles can be appealing to readers.’ He gives this reader-centric focus as,

The article must be on a single topic or theme. The topic must be compelling to the readers.

Each article must be unique, with no repeated content. The article must have a sharp opening leveraging powerful phrases and metaphors. The body of the article must explain the topic concisely refraining from redundant words, phrases, and sentences. The conclusion must offer a maximum of three clear take away points for the readers. We spend a maximum of 30 minutes for each article for full focus and attention. No multitasking when writing these specific articles! We aim to train our brain to become a prolific writer without compromising quality. I believe each writer in this community can write 300 to 500 words in 30 minutes in their expertise areas and domains. The purpose of this educative experimentation is to improve our articulation skills, leveraging clarity, brevity, and impact principles (emphasis by author).

Dr. Yildiz challenges each writer to create one 30-minute article per day, and continue the process for 30 days, based on a single idea.

I don’t know if any writers accepted the challenge. However, it sounds like a worthwhile activity for participants within a mentoring group.

Can you see a solution?

I’m not writing these thoughts to propose a solution, only to encourage deep thinking about the circulating complaints in articles, the diminishing quality, and refusal to accept well-meaning advice.

All members can prosper in an environment offering practical advice, strategies to help, and supportive value instead of criticism.

Currently, the illuminating positives shine brighter than the rampaging negatives. However, the balance could flip the other way.