I don’t often talk about leadership directly. Most of my writing and ideas are geared toward, first, leading ourselves. If you can’t figure out how to help or force yourself be the best version of you it’s pretty hard to know how to do that with others. Another important thing to note here is that we can’t see the back of our own head. We need help. Even with two mirrors it’s not easy. And if you’re going to try to cut your own hair… good fucking luck! Who has tried this?
Oh boy!!! leadership is a barrel of monkeys and a barrel of laughs. The target on your back and projections you get never stop. You’ll make mistakes and they’ll be seen under a microscope with a spotlight. You know what I’m talking about.
Here’s my off the cuff description of leadership-making people the best they can be while aligning them towards a common mission, goal, or purpose.
I want to point out a challenging intersection I see and feel in leadership. There are many facets to exerting one’s soul dollars to strategically shape the reality we live in but here are two that are important and can wind up at odds. I sure do love a good conundrum!
I believe leadership should be based off doing the right thing. I hope you agree with me. Leadership involves leading groups of people and in any group there are varying needs across a spectrum of possibilities. I often use the “greatest good for the greatest number of people” rule which is a decent, road tested guideline but there are occasions where if something isn’t good for one person it’s not good for anyone in the group.
So doing what’s right isn’t always simple and sometimes we don’t have a long time to ponder on all the options. For me, one of the tenets of leadership is to get things off my plate expeditiously so I can move on the other things. I get it, mistakes will be made in the pursuit of using time wisely. Because of this you have to go back and review things later to see where doing something different could have been better.
The other facet for this seemingly impossible contradiction is to follow what is true in our heart. Yes, your heart belongs in leadership. I’ve led from a place of telling people what to do and how to do it because “I know what I’m talking about”. And I do know what I’m talking about a lot of the time. It works pretty well and most people follow along because is makes sense and from a cognitive place.
Operating from our heart is a different story. It’s vulnerable and open. I feel exposed and raw. The benefit is that people know where you’re coming from to a much deeper degree and what I’ve found is that they’re follow out of love and admiration rather than because it’s their job.
So sometimes doing what’s right and being true to ourselves lands us smack dab in a pile of twister with what feels like enemies. Right and wrong can end up failing you. We’ve all felt this and we’ve also dispensed this. It sucks. Then on top of that if we struggle to align with what’s true in our heart we the feel the hell of discomfort.
If and when you have the time, examination as to what’s best for all, what’s true in your heart, the alignment with the mission, and if we’re leading others towards their best should be reviewed so we can course correct with future decisions.
These factors are what I hope will help you and me guide each of us towards healthy leadership. Good luck.
The opportunity:
How do you find what’s true in your heart?
When was a time where you should have shifted the trajectory of a group and you didn’t?
What mechanisms do you have in place to keep you from leading from ego?
What causes you to question the mission or goal you’re seeking?
How great does it feel to lead from an aligned and whole place?
Thanks for your time, have a great day!