Are you a leader? Spoiler alert….yes YOU are!
To listen to the Podcast on this topic click HERE To watch the video click HERE
I hear this all the time. Seriously, far more often than I would like. People telling m e that they agree with a lot of what I say but don’t see how some of the principles apply to them because “I’m not a leader. I’m just a (fill in the blank)”. First of all, don’t do that! Don’t ever short change who you are in this world to yourself or anyone else! I will dive into that in a later post, but just know now, stop that! Second, yes….yes you are a leader! It doesn’t matter what you do or where you are doing it, you are a leader.
What am I talking about? Well to sum it all up, there is always someone watching you. Seriously! Everywhere you go and in everything you do, someone is watching. You may not even realize it, in fact a lot of the time you won’t, until they let you know.
Let’s be honest. We’ve all been there. Someone we may not even know approaches us and tells us they saw us doing something. And probably about 50% of the time it’s something that we probably wish we had either not done or could have handled in a better way. It’s never a fun position to be in. I know for myself when that happens I immediately see Bugs Bunny’s face turning into a “Jackass” like in looney tunes in my head. It’s no fun!
Now, think about the other 50%. Guess what, there’s still someone watching. They are watching the things you are doing well, the stuff that you are the subject matter expert on. They are watching and diligently taking notes. Without even “taking charge” of the situation, you are leading this individual through your example.
Now that we are clear on the fact that theres always someone watching, let’s expand on it a little. This is what I like to refer to as indirect leadership. It’s that leadership through example, and I can tell you it’s always more powerful than leadership through authority.
Take parenting as an example. Just by being the parent in the situation you automatically have the leadership through authority on your side. But that will only take you so far if you’re not also leading through example. If we’re being candid, your example is what separates real leaders from hypocrites. The last thing you want is to try and tell junior not to do something that he’s watched you do over and over and continue to do.
The same observational relationship happens in the business world all the time. What never ceases to amaze me is the shock on the part of the leader, when their example has produced results that are contrary to their desired outcome.
Let me explain, and I’m not trying to pick on anyone. However, if the shoe fits. I’ve encountered leaders who come to me and start off with things like; their team isn’t proactive, they’re lazy, they take short cuts all the time, the list goes on. What’s always fascinating and yet never surprising, is when I spend a little time with that leader and get a look at how they spend their day.
You want to know what I see about 90% of the time? The leader spends a lot of time in their office, “checking email”, feet up on their desk. I’ve said it before, you cannot lead a team from an office. It just won’t work. You can send all the emails on the planet and still not get the results you want. What worse is that the outcome and output that you are getting from your team in these cases is a direct result of the example you have set.
Bottom line, you can’t exemplify one thing and expect another. You are what those watching think success looks like. In whatever capacity that is, wether it’s as a parent or in business.
So, what’s the take away? Exactly where we started. YOU ARE a LEADER! Somewhere to someone you are what success looks like. So, be sure to be not just the authority but also the example!
