My Leadership Legacy

Someday I'll be gone.

While there are a lot of thoughts that swirl through my mind as I sit and read that statement, in this moment there is something lingering I want to reflect on.

My Leadership Legacy

Leadership has always been such a big goal in my life. I can pinpoint the first person I worked for who I considered to be a real leader. His name was Jeff, and he was my boss at a catering company. I got a job as his "number two" at the company when I was a very green 17 and had no idea which end was up. I remember fumbling into his office with my resume in one hand, snow falling outside on a cold February night, wondering to myself what the heck I was doing there. He sat me down, asked me if I had any experience and I told him I knew how to make spaghetti. That was literally my response. I'm not sure what he saw in me back then, but he took a look at me and decided it was worth a shot... and boy am I glad he did.

Every day I worked there I learned something new. I learned how to strip a pineapple - a lesson I may never recover from, but that's a different story. I learned how to clean a tenderloin, how to cook rice that isn't the consistency of glue, how to make French toast coated in corn flakes that would knock your socks off and eventually how to make hollandaise and poach an egg. Then I learned how to plan a menu, how to figure out profit and loss, how to manage a team and how to talk a bride down off a cliff an hour before her wedding ceremony. I also learned about vintages of wine and aged whisky and how to know if someone's lying in a hand of poker. (Obviously not all of those lessons were on the job.)

But the best lessons I learned from Jeff were about how to inspire a team to work hard. You see, Jeff was a leader. He would introduce you to a new task, teach you how to do it, explain why it was being done that way, lay out expectations and show you how to measure success by results. He would walk away and let you work through it - observing the first time, but never micromanaging. He would provide support, encouragement, inspire you and also hold you accountable - but only after he had laid it all out for you and made sure you could succeed.

Jeff was a leader - not just a manager - and he instilled those values in me. I worked for him, and then at a certain point I started working with him. I remember the day things changed, probably around 5 years in. We were catering a wedding outdoors in someone's back yard. The yard was uneven, and the tables we had to work on were slanted downward to the extent we had waitstaff standing at the bottom of the tables positioned to keep plates from sliding off. Our tents were sagging from the heavy rain, there was mud all over our shoes, our catering truck was running on fumes because the oven inside wasn't enough space to keep anything warm and we were plating like maniacs for 200+ people. I remember looking up at Jeff, situated at the table across from mine, just as he looked up at me, smiling. In that moment I realized that I could do everything he could, and just as well. Our plates looked the same, we moved at the same speed, and I had even picked up some of his mannerisms. We got through just fine, despite the lackluster working conditions, and at the end of the shift he handed me a beer - which he had never done before. We sat down on the bumper of the trunk, said nothing, and took it all in. It was the best beer of my life. The next day he told me I'd be taking over events and he would be stepping aside to do more back-office work.

That's when I felt like I had achieved success. I look back on those days and do my best to honor those lessons in the way I lead others now. My catering days may be over, but those memories will live with me no matter where I go.

Simon Sinek has so many great leadership quotes that I could literally wallpaper my house with them - but the one that stays with me on the day-to-day is:

"Leadership is the acceptance of the awesome responsibility to create an environment in which people can work at their natural best." – Simon Sinek

This resonates with me the deepest because I believe that the day I walked into Jeff's office he saw me for what I was - not a great chef or a great leader - but a blank slate full of potential. He created a space for me to blossom and find my strengths. He challenged me to grow but encouraged me to learn in a way that worked best for me. He gave me encouragement and accountability, and he gave me ownership of my failures and success. He helped me find my natural best and gave me the confidence to use it to lead others.

There aren't many hills I'd gladly die on - but this is one of them:

There are a lot of managers in the world but not so many leaders. It's a challenge, and a privilege, to learn how to inspire others and it's something we shouldn't take for granted.

If you're in a position of leadership, I want to challenge you to consider if you're truly leading your team or just delegating tasks. Are you inspiring your team to find their natural best?

Someday we'll be gone - but the legacy of our leadership will live forever in the lives we change and the next generations of leaders we inspire.

Lead them well.