The Wounded Leader
PETE COHEN
?? Guiding People From Survival To Thriving ?? Keynote Speaker ?? Author ?? Coach ?? Helping Your Create A Life Of Intentions ??
Leading a successful business can often feel like a battle. You are at war with the competition; you are fighting to provide the best service for ever-more demanding customers; your people – who are supposed to be your foot soldiers – seem to be dragging their feet instead of battling along side you.
No wonder leaders feel wounded!
In so many of the organisations I’ve been asked to work with, this sense of being in a war zone is palpable. People are afraid, exhausted and can’t see what they are fighting for. They want a cause worth fighting for and yet they can’t find it.
So how can you fire people up to follow your lead? What will it take to inspire them?
Leadership, to me, isn’t about telling people what to do or pushing them along, whether they like it or not. It is becoming a leader that people want to follow. You become the example. You know you stand for and standing for it every day. You work on yourself constantly so that you can look in the mirror and say, “this is a person that I would follow.”
By doing that, you show everyone around you that it is okay for them to do the same. You make the connection and give them the cause to follow.
If you want to heal your business and yourself the best ‘secret weapon’ that you have is your people.
- Are you ready to rise up to the challenge of becoming a successful business by being the example and inspiring your people to do the same?
- What are the leadership qualities that you have seen in others that have made you want to follow?
- What qualities do you have that inspire the people around you?
Share your experiences in the comments below. Join the debate to create a world of Inspirators.
Entrepreneurial Nature Connection Guide | Author | Guide Trainer | Community Builder | Raising Nature Consciousness for Well-being & Personal Growth.
6 年You’re right Pete, we do all lead ourselves first. I think that’s one of the reasons leaders are wounded. Many of the problems I see in leaders today is that they are not listening to the ‘inner leader’. Here’s an example based on what you said in the video: I got myself out of bed this morning, eventually. It’s Sunday as I write this. It wasn’t easy. My usual ‘strategy’ didn’t work. I had to call an emergency crisis meeting and everyone on the board of ‘Ian Banyard Limited’ had something to say. Half the board wanted to stay in bed in favour of a lie-in, it was Sunday after all. The other half were keen for me to get up and get on with day as there were lots of outstanding issues to resolve. What we lacked this morning was an inner leader to bring both sides together. The main problem with leadership is it’s based on military models. I didn’t realise that the word ‘strategy’ comes from a Greek word ‘strategia’ which means - office or command of a general. It’s only been used in a non-military way since 1887. No wonder we have so many wounded leaders when the whole culture around leadership is about competing and fighting. Inner leadership is about collaboration not competition it’s about inspiring new leaders not forcing followers
Managing Director for Wales and the South West at Willmott Dixon
6 年Great piece, I agree Pete. We should all be the leader that we would like. We know how we like to be treated, the things that inspire us. If we reflect on those key things then we can lead others the same way!!