Can my journey in search for sources of inspiration in leadership help you?

Various sources have inspired me about #leadership. Some more than others. What did I learn from that and how can this help you in finding inspiration for leadership?

Why did I start diving into leadership? A few years ago my business partner told me that people often first grow and excel as a craftsperson. Up until the point they are at their peek of knowledge and ability. Highly certified. Recognized internally and/or externally. They’re often seen as thought leaders. A lot of these experts cope with imposter syndrome, but that’s a topic for another time for me to write about. Craftsmanship and thought leadership are not the same thing. To personally grow further, it’s all about growing leadership.

I started my own journey to becoming a craftsman, a #marketingautomation expert, a long time ago. I wanted to know and learn everything. Experiment, fail, and learn. I met peers and attended conferences. I was among the first few individuals to get Marketo Engage certified. Marketo even named me to its yearly top-50 elite champions for 6 times in a 10-year period. All of this also resulted in many speaking opportunities all over the world. From small breakout sessions, to being the opening keynote speaker for much larger events. Audiences started to ask if they could hire me, which eventually resulted in me founding Chapman Bright, after a brief period of freelancing. The team at Chapman Bright is growing and my role as craftsman has been slowly fading into a leadership role. Not to be confused with a manager’s role or being the person that is ultimate responsible. Leadership encompasses so many other aspects. I rounded up this period of craftmanship by writing my first book Marketing Automation Untangled, an auto-biographic business novel which is available since early 2022. Next to all kind of learnings about marketing automation specifically, it also has some great practical methods for change management if you read between the lines. This also opened a new topic of keynote requests in the past few months.

So for the past few years I’ve been gradually working more on leadership than on craftmanship. But who and what were my sources of inspiration. Which learnings can I share with you? The obvious, though maybe not the best, is to pick up some management books with theory on essential leadership skills. You then read that providing a message of hope is one of the most powerful leadership skills to fuel people’s traditional desire for money, power, status, or recognition. Though these skills can be important to improve, you’d first need to know which of your leadership related skills even need improvement. And whether this traditional leadership thinking still applies in today’s world. Another route is for people to contract leadership coaches. They help you to reflect on real-life scenarios and to try new methods of dealing with them. Though I did explore the possibility of a professional coach, I opted to look for natural coaches around me.

Transforming from craftsman into a leader

For unknown reasons, my default approach was to look at and learn from other leaders. To personally connect with other CEO’s, authors, and fellow keynote speakers. And I attended presentations by well-known leaders. I soon realized this was me approaching this as a craftsperson. Trying to learn tricks from those that already master it. It defines us a species that we teach the next generation and pass on our crafts. But for leadership you do not want to pass on ‘old thinking’. I believe one should not pass on leadership skills, but one should pass on the leadership mindset.

By now I’ve learned that leadership inspiration can come from a variety of sources, but you have to actively spot them and invest time in finding them. I attended #INBOUND22 in Boston the last few days and I got inspired by many great leaders there, but there were two unexpected occasions that truly inspired me.

One occasion at inbound was when one of my direct reports, someone I can call a friend after all these years, referenced a well-known quote that leaders have followers regardless of hierarchy. The discussion we had afterwards was a far bigger inspiration for me than some of the big names on stage, who also inspired me. E.g. a former US president that said that we’re more divided than we were 18 years ago. And that hopefulness isn’t blind optimism. Which confirmed my thoughts that traditional leadership might no longer apply to today’s world. The other occasion was at an informal reception at INBOUND where I was discussing our field with a few enthusiastic digital marketing specialists. One of them said they felt honored that I was spending time with them instead of with other managers like myself. I think that when you get older and progress in your career they no longer value their business titles as much anymore. But they shouldn’t forget that other people could still value it. So both of my two biggest leadership inspirations for me last week came from peers or followers rather than from other leaders. That was surprising to me.

I recall an article in HBR from 2004 by Michael Maccoby (Why people follow the leader the power of transference). People follow leaders rationally or irrationally. Irrational following is rooted in transference. This typically goes back to the father and/or mother relationship. But increasingly, due to changes in family compositions nowadays, the sibling relationship is becoming more important. This influences how followers follow, and leaders can lead. They should take note and investigate the nature of why they’re being followed.

The entire article suddenly dots the ‘i’s for me in a great keynote from Malcolm Gladwell at the online Adobe Conference in 2020. Malcolm Gladwell , using storytelling techniques, explains how we’re moving from hierarchy to networking as being more successful in getting things done and/or changed.

Gladwell, Maccoby, the former President, my colleague, and the digital marketers I spoke with, all make me wonder: “Are we just all be leaders as much as we are followers? Are we just all folleaders?”

So I think at companies we need to make sure that leadership and hierarchy are in sync. People expect a level of leadership from someone in rank. Or should rank be thrown out the window? Would it be possible to run a network driven company? Where people collaborate, help each other succeed, stand up for each other, help each other in need, and all mentor each other? But of course, somebody needs to be ultimate accountable for some things. So here’s my ask to all you decisionmakers out there:

“Can you promote those leaders that enable and serve followers to positions of ultimate accountability? Can we stop promoting those that are pursuing power and only care about profitability by the quarter? And then… maybe then… we can turn around this generation’s ever-rising burnout rates and get change done!”

That brings me full circle to what my inspiration for leadership is and that I personally also still have quite a learning journey in leadership ahead of me. For now I would say:

“Leaders are those people that, regardless of status and hierarchy, actively invest in engaging and enabling their followers, as their followers truly are the truest source of inspiration!”

As a ‘folleader’ yourself, you can also inspire others to become a ‘folleader’. Please use the power of comments below to share what lessons and resources have inspired you. Or you can already inspire others by pointing them towards this article by simply liking and sharing it.