Do you consider yourself a leader?

To this day, throughout your career, how many bosses have you had?

And how many leaders?

Although one word is often considered synonymous with the other, you and I know that, in practice, bosses and leaders have very different meanings and impacts on our lives.

Have you ever tried to translate into words what differentiates bosses from leaders?

According to the dictionary, a boss is a person empowered to take the place of command while a leader is a person who exerts influence on someone's behavior or way of thinking.

I like to believe, as Napoleon Bonaparte said, that leaders are sellers of hope. And, if so, leadership is independent of gender, ethnicity, race, age, sexual orientation, social class, nationality, political party or religion.

Leaders are people who are at the service of something greater than theirselves. People with a purpose that overflows beyond their own heart and mind, coupled with the ability to inspire and move others to transform reality together.

However, exercising leadership requires an immense dose of self-knowledge and awareness, and some basic prerequisites. The first is to like people.

The corporate world is full of bosses who are terrified of people, who lower their heads or look away in elevators and corridors, so as not to have to interact with other human beings.

These creatures may be in positions of power, but they will never become leaders. They still command and control, most of the time by force, terrorizing, generating fear and distrust among people. They represent the most outdated and vile in organizations. They are unsustainable.

Leaders like people, include, trust, communicate with truth, sincerity and transparency, align expectations, delegate and charge for deliveries.

They are agents of change, people who dedicate their time, energy, experience and knowledge to question reality, do things differently, better, faster and simpler. Leaders inspire, encourage and challenge to do what has never been done and, together with their teams, create the new, invent the future.

A leader is not afraid to not know, to appear vulnerable, to ask questions, to ask for help, to take risks, to make mistakes and to assume mistakes, to learn, unlearn and relearn continuously.

Isn't that exactly what we've been doing since we were born? What is life but a great endeavor without the right to rehearse? A startup project in which we experiment, test hypotheses and paths, make mistakes, learn, scale or pivot all the time?

Leaders are masters in the use of the senses, especially active listening, attentive observation of reality, signs and human behavior. They are people who invest time to develop their emotional intelligence, their ability to empathize and to promote diversity in their lives. And they are not hostages to their own ego, they know they are transitional. They are just occupying positions, leading people, teams and projects.

Do you consider yourself a leader?

As Paulo Freire* said, ensure the integrity between your speech and your practice.

Remember: leader is the person you are.

There is nothing more powerful and transformative than a leadership by example.

*Paulo Freire was a Brazilian educator and philosopher.

This article was originally published in Portuguese on HSM Management Magazine: https://www.revistahsm.com.br/post/voce-se-considera-uma-pessoa-lider

I am Neivia Justa, awarded and recognized Brazilian businesswoman, C-Level headhunter, mentor, board member and mother of two teenager girls. I work to find, engage and (trans) form leaders who think, communicate and act in a conscious, diverse, inclusive and innovative way to guarantee a sustainable future for all.