There’s No Formula to Leadership

Regular readers of my articles know that I frequently offer steps and ideas to help people build and create fulfilling careers. While these insights are key, simply trying to implement them won’t blow you career wide open.

One of my clients who is following the steps and advice I’ve given keeps running into stumbling blocks. Why haven’t things just clicked and fallen into place for her?

Things usually don’t “just” fall into place. We develop the perspective and strategy that helps us to stay in the game and ride the wave toward success. There are two things that are fundamental to developing the perspective and strategy of a leader - Mindset and Bravery.

Mindset

The best way to become a leader is to understand and adjust your default thinking. Do you understand and believe in your value? Do you think that hard work is your best, and only, asset?

If you don’t know how to manage the doubts that plague you, it’s hard to develop the skills that allow you to advocate for yourself. These doubts are beliefs and rules that limit our ability to see opportunities. Instead, they make the path ahead appear to be full of insurmountable challenges.

A strong and clear mindset allows you to see choices instead of obstacles. A strong mindset shifts your perspective from thoughtless reaction to anticipation and decision.

A strong mindset enables you to develop habits that teach people how to best work with you, so you will no longer be twisting and turning to meet other expectations. It allows you to do things your way and pave a new way to success.

This is important, because a true leader doesn’t follow what everyone else does. A leader creates a path that others want to follow.

Bravery

As a leader, to create a path that others want to follow, you have to be brave enough to stand out.

I find so often that my clients want to wait to take action until the fear disappears. It doesn’t work that way. The fear doesn’t disappear until we take action. Taking action when you are leading the way takes bravery.

Following rules, steps and strategy will only get you so far. If you are only one of a few women leading in your organization, you will have to create your way to the next level - there is no well worn, clear path.

You’ll never know how to do everything. You need the mindset and bravery to experiment and see what happens. Regardless of the outcome, you’ll build your instincts and learn to rely on your intuition.

You’ll learn to trust yourself.

This isn’t about building the confidence that you’ll always be right and always find success. It’s the confidence that you have what it takes to handle the challenges and the rewards that come your way.

I can’t give you a formula for that - it comes from practice - but I can help you begin!