Let us begin with a simple question: whom do you lead? Let us answer with a simple answer: OTHERS. You see, if you do not understand this and truly live it, you will cause others to suffer through the way you lead. John Quincy Adams writes so beautifully and accurately about leadership:
If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.
You may feel this is a mouthful and looks like hard work. You are right — it is a mouthful and it is hard work. If you do not find deep joy in sacrificing for others and for their lives, rather stay away from leadership. A good leader uplifts, raises, invests in, and encourages. It is a continual giving of yourself that can be draining and exhausting in every way.
A good leader thinks about the future of the group they lead and becomes excited about every piece of learning, growth, and progress they see and experience in others’ lives. The fuel in your tank — apart from good self-management — is seeing others flourish. The spring in your step is seeing people’s potential grow beyond you. There is no threat when someone does something better than you. No — there is excitement and gratitude. That is what makes you feel that you are accomplishing something. That is what allows you to feel successful as a leader. That is what lets you go to bed at night feeling satisfied and at peace.
Let us be honest with one another: today there are far more examples of self-centered, self-satisfied leadership than the leadership described here. Learn to find joy in the growth of others. Learn to value your contribution to society when it comes to uplifting and improving someone else. The value system of the society in which you and I live is skewed and self-focused. Live differently — and be a true leader.
The well-known John Maxwell emphasizes the same principle in a different way:
Leaders become great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.
Written by Johan Smith