Guess what? Until you see yourself as a leader, no one else will. In fact, leadership has less to do with titles and more to do with behavior. So, don’t worry if you’re not the traditional CEO, because I interpret it to mean Chief Example Officer, or Chief Empowerment Officer, sometimes the Chief Energy Officer and right now especially, the Chief Empathy Officer. My question for you, is what type of Example are you setting?
Effective leaders realize they’re not the audience for their message and that one of their primary roles is to be a teacher, like those we remember along the way who left a lasting impression on the person we were to become.
Ultimately, the role of leaders is to affect positive outcomes. Pure and simple. If you’re not affecting positive outcomes, then what are you accomplishing? Now, that doesn’t mean every interaction you’re involved with is desirable or fun, because they’re not. Someone once said leadership is about plumbing and poetry. There are days when all you do is clean up messes. Not much fun. Then there are other days where you can play poet…articulating a vision and enlisting others in its pursuit. The situation we’re living and working in now, you definitely are toggling between those two roles.
Leaders traffic in trust. Trust is the primary lubricant in fostering healthy relationships, personally and professionally. Keep in mind that effective leaders strike a healthy balance between securing compliance and enlisting commitment from organizational members in their efforts to build an optimal organization.