Lead from where you are
Erik Boemanns
Leading you from IT risk to reward. A lawyer/technologist bringing executive expertise to IT GRC, privacy, and security. Together, we can reach your next level of success.
A common question from future leaders is how to get experience leading before the job is thrust upon them. They may think they have to be promoted into a leadership role first, and then the experience will come naturally. As with most skills, this is the hard path and can easily lead to disappointment all around. Those who promoted the person see them struggling with the new responsibilities. The person themselves feels overwhelmed and doubts their choice to accept the role or their ability to do it. If you’re looking for a leadership role, don’t wait for this approach. Instead, remember leadership is a behavior, not a role.
To build your leadership skills, bring them into your life now. No matter what you’re doing, you have an opportunity to lead. At first, you may only be leading yourself, but depending on how you spend your time, you may have opportunities to lead others as well. Through volunteer organizations, schools, or your local community, the opportunity to lead is often present. If you intend to lead at work, learning to lead outside of work can be a great way to build and demonstrate these skills. Even within your job, you can find opportunities to lead. It could be as simple as putting together a study group for a certificate you and your teammates are interested in getting. Or leading a donation drive to connect a cause you care about to your company’s giving programs.
The key is leading from where you are, rather than waiting for someone to appoint you to a leadership role. You can take advantage of leadership thinking and techniques and apply them to what you’re doing today. For example, leaders like to define a vision. The basic reason is to help decide a direction they want to take the organization and be able to describe it in a way others can understand. It then becomes a filter for plans and activities. Will doing this activity help us get closer to the vision or take us further from it? The vision is the destination and the plans and activities are all the steps along the way. ?To lead where you are, set a vision for your own goals.
Whatever you’re trying to accomplish – find a job, finish a project, get a promotion, buy a house – write your vision statement describing what it will look like when you achieve it. Vision statements are typically written as if you’ve gotten to the goal. So, a 2024 vision would be a written description of what things are like in December 2024. So, it might open with a statement “In 2024, I was able to find a fulfilling job which provided the income I need to do the other things I enjoy.” Continue from there to describe the other key things you accomplished. It’s great to put “SMART” goals in the vision – meaning they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
If writing a vision statement or SMART goals are new concepts to you, there’s a ton of great material online for both – I’m not trying to cover those details today. Go check those out and build the vision statement. Then, once you have your vision statement, start building your plan on how you will get there. Your plan should be spread out over easy to see units of time. For example, even if you know something will take a year to achieve, break it down into four 90-day plans. Leave the last three vague and focus on the next 90 days. Then, break those down into the months, weeks, and even days. Describe the milestones you’ll need to meet to keep pace. And then build out the activities you’ll need to meet the milestones.
This is leadership thinking. It doesn’t matter you’re the only person doing the work.
Following an approach like this is leadership thinking. It doesn’t matter you’re the only person doing the work. You’ll quickly find the same approach scales up to Fortune 50 companies. Eventually, the planning falls to others, as does the doing, but the vision and roadmap to achieve it are what leadership will be working on themselves.? And you’ll be able to transfer this thinking to other opportunities to lead. If you’re planning a fundraiser for your school – the steps can be the same. Following the approach will make it easier for you to get others involved and help you. As a result, you are now leading – not just yourself, but others as well.
A final thought on leading from where you are applies to those who are leaders already. Sometimes you can’t get the things you want, even as a leader. In these cases, do you give up and say, “I guess we won’t do the thing”? Or do you find a way to lead from this point and still do it the best way possible with what you have? Sometimes, just doing the thing, and showing it works, can change the perspective, and get you the support from others you need. Or it could backfire, and your boss could tell you to stop. But in either scenario, you led. Because another important aspect of leadership is the understanding of risk and whether to try something with risk. So, if you are trying to lead, know you’ll have some risk. You’ll have to decide your own risk tolerance in how to approach the situation.
Ultimately, leading from where you are is a mantra for everyone. No matter where you are in your career, you can leverage leadership behaviors to help you get to where you want to be. You can always be building the strengths needed. Then, when given the opportunity to lead others, you’ll be far more ready for the new opportunity.
What are your thoughts on “leading from where you are”? Do you have examples of when this worked for you? Or worse, backfired? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
The Startup Series
Come hang out with me at ebspoke.substack.com - check out my series of articles on startups and things to think about if you're starting one.
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Other Writings
My article, "A Letter from the CISO to the CMO" was published this past week by The National CIO Review? .
Check it out for to see how cybersecurity can be a marketing asset, not just a thing marketing hopes to never think about.
Medium
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Week In Review
If there's anything I learned this past week, is that a poll is the best way to reach all of you. Photos, videos, text, and there's a decent chance you didn't see the post. Unless you click the links below, for any you might have missed.
领英推荐
Here's what was on the mind this past week - join in the conversation or share your thoughts on the polls!
I also hosted my monthly cybersecurity coffee chat - thank you to those who were able to attend! It was a small group, but a good conversation focused on romance scams and the education efforts to help prevent them.
In Conclusion
I promised my thoughts on the McDonald's Eggplant Parm sandwich today but left my notes on another computer I don't have access to today. So, I'll throw that in a post later in the week. But if you happened to read the same book I read with the answer, please let me know! I can't find it on the Internet and ChatGPT doesn't know what I'm talking about.
Anyone who makes it to this part of the article, I'm as surprised as you are. I truly appreciate your support. Throw the word "EGGPLANT" in the comments as I still have some LinkedIn Premium memberships (if eligible) or I'll give you a free paid access to my Substack (ability to comment on posts there)!
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I hope this coming week is exactly what you need it to be!
Thanks, as always!
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About Erik
Erik Boemanns is a technology executive and lawyer. His background covers many aspects of technology, from infrastructure to software development. He combines this with a "second career" as a lawyer into a world of cybersecurity, governance, risk, compliance, and privacy (GRC-P). His time in a variety of companies, industries, and careers brings a unique perspective on leadership, helping, technology problem solving and implementing compliance.
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Kubernetes cluster upgrades made simple ? 3x Exit Founder in Southeast Asia ? 15+ years of growth leadership ??
1 年Exciting read! Can't wait to dive into it.
Education Consultant/English for Career Growth/Inclusion Specialist
1 年This article changes our thoughts on leadership role. Explaining the new way of exploring leaderships within our current role and or project.
That was just what I needed to hear today, Erik!