Here are my thoughts (these + $4.99 = cup of coffee)
- Let’s stop badmouthing management because management is what actually gets results. It is certainly not sexy or trendy but management where “it” happens and “it” produces bottom line results
- No one gets to be a leader 100% of the time. In fact, no one really gets to be a leader much more than 10%-15% of the time. (They are busy managing the other 90% 0f their day)
- Leadership, if done correctly, will require you to give of yourself and what you give you can not get back.
- Most of the time, leadership sucks! The reason? As opposed to management (when you give direction), leading is essentially selling your vision. This means you constantly have to reinforce your vision to those who sign to follow. Everyone gets really jazzed at first but when the actual work starts to make the vision a reality, people can become disillusioned and need re-energized, re-focused, and re-everything else. This is where you have to give, give, give, give until it hurts. In the meantime, who is giving to you?
Here is the big news (drumroll………..) Management is WHAT we do & Leadership is HOW we do it. Not all that exciting is it? Leadership is not a job or title, it is a state of mind that can be applied in any situation at any time…if you choose. There will be many leadership “opportunities” during the course of any given day. Our challenge is to not be so focused on managing the work, that we fail to see them.
Leadership is really an add-on that isn’t in anyone’s job description but something no one can stop you from doing. That’s the irony! So many classes, consultants, books, and so on on leadership when it really is just about placing yourselve in a position to serve others. No fanfare, no accolades, simply reaching out and acting in a way that causes others to pause and consider their own actions in context of what they just saw. Perhaps the best definition of leadership I ever read was, “The ability to inspire self-motivation in others”
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