A friend of mine is a CEO of a particular organization. When we have chatted in the past, she would jokingly remind me that everyone wants to sit in her chair. They know how things should really run. They have the solution. They have the best answer. But when it all comes down, she is the one running the place. She is the bottom line.
Leadership. Everyone wants it. Few can handle it. Even fewer “get it”.
It got me to thinking. Just because someone lands a position of leadership doesn’t necessarily mean people will want to follow them. When a person becomes a leader, it also doesn’t guarantee that they’ll be good at it. Being large and in charge is not a birthright. Like royalty. (And even there, we can recall countless good kings and many, many more bad kings).
Being good at leading takes wisdom, thought, and work. It means doing what’s best for the people or the project in your charge. It means weighing all options, choosing the best plan of action, and then making the proverbial final call.
When a person goes down in history as a good leader, you find that they were remembered for doing what was best for the greater good. They weren’t caught up in their legacy, or their prominence or the perks that came with the job. They thought about, cared about and protected their people and their tasks.
If you are in a position of leadership today, what kind of leader do you feel you have become? What do your people say about you? What would you like for them to say about you? What are you doing to make their lives better? Are you committing to quality? Is your focus on you, or the future and the greater good?
As leaders, we leave a mark. What that mark looks like is always left up to us.
Just my thoughts, as you sit in that chair of leadership or influence today.
S.
