The Desert of Arizona
Rain-ish 53 Degrees
You see a lot of talk about leadership. And many times, it sounds pretty darn glamorous. That hasn’t been my experience. In fact, it’s really unglamorous.
What does it even mean to lead? And more importantly, is it REALLY something you want to do?
The role of the Incomparable Expert IS the role of the leader. If you don’t think you are one or if you’re not currently acting like one, then probably one of two things is true:
You either don’t belong here or you haven’t figure out yet that you DO belong here.
So in today’s issue, I’m happy to offer some straight talk about how I see leadership.
Here are a few things it takes:
- As a leader, you commit to becoming a better version of yourself tomorrow than you are today. If you’re not already doing the work to make that happen on many levels, then how can you be serious? Leaders don’t have to ask HOW to do this work or what this work is. You search it out because that’s how you’re wired. Leading isn’t about telling people what to do, it’s about showing them WHO they can be.
- Leaders don’t complain. Complaining is wasted energy and wasted breath directed at a worthless pursuit. Leaders decide where they want to go and then they FIGURE OUT how to get there. That’s the work: figuring it out. Leaders wade through the crap that stops others cold. Complaining does nothing except serve as a clue you haven’t fully committed to leading.
- A leader is someone willing to delay gratification in pursuit of helping others achieve it first. This is hard. Sometimes it plain sucks. You put off getting what you want until you’ve helped others get what they want. This isn’t a business tactic, it’s a way of life.
- Leaders aren’t interested in the opinions of others, they are interested in the commitment and dedication of others. Commitment and dedication aren’t things you can gift to someone, they are things you demand people offer to themselves.
- Leadership isn’t something you choose to do. It’s not a course to take or a book to read. You do it because you have to do it. Because you don’t know of another way forward. That’s about the only reason good enough to pay the price required for the journey. Because you HAVE to.
Who wants to be a leader NOW?
That’s what I’m about. I take the people who lead and, through the power of my strategies and systems, create a steady stream of opportunities to do just that.