What is your intent as a leader?
Many people misunderstand leadership as getting more people to follow them. They do whatever what it takes to get people to follow, which often means telling them what they want to hear. Another variation is the leaders who pride themselves on how many people are in their organization and focus on increasing their headcount no matter what. Those people aren’t actually leading; they are following what people want, which is what we see from most politicians these days.
Leadership in my view is about identifying a future possibility and inviting other people into an effort to change things to reach that possibility. It’s not following the standard path, it’s breaking a new path into the unknown. Yes, it’s more risky because it’s hasn’t been tried before. Yes, it’s not certain to succeed. That’s what makes it leadership instead of following.
That being said, if you can’t get anybody to follow you towards your new possibility, you’re also not acting as a leader. Perhaps your new possibility isn’t attractive, or you haven’t figured out how to explain the benefit it will offer to others. Somebody that gets too attached to their own vision is a loner, not a leader.
I find #leadership fascinating because it’s a constant balance between holding to a strong vision while also adapting that vision to the situation and the context. If you hold too rigidly to your vision, you become the lone weirdo. If you don’t have any vision to guide you, you end up following the crowd. I appreciate the leaders who create a vision, guard their values, and connect to the people who share those values and vision.
Who is a leader that has inspired you with their vision or values?