Leadership Summarized

I've had a lot of leadership positions in my life in companies of all sizes. Not all leaders are the same and the definition of leadership has changed over the years. There are leaders who motivate by fear; there are leaders who motivate through bribery; there are leaders who lead by consensus. In order for leaders to be successful there are a few simple lessons I learned that can be boiled down into 10 bullet points.

1. Be approachable
2. It is about them not you
3. It is about you and them
4. It is never about you
5. Be patient
6. Be empowering
7. Be authentic
8. Be human
9. Be firm
10. Be the person you want to follow

The people who I learned the most from in my career have understood all these things. They taught me to listen first, think second and act third, never react. They taught me everyone is not like me and everyone has unique needs. They taught me it is OK to make mistakes but you do you need to own them and learn from them. All the leadership research in the world does not need to teach you how to any of these 10 things as you do them every day but putting them all together will make you the leader you should be.

#Leadership #Empowerment #Teamwork #Success