I have long held the belief that we are all leaders in some way, shape or form. Recently reading “Daring Greatly” by Brene Brown (which by the way, is a “must read” in my opinion) she gave this definition of leader.
“I’ve come to believe that a leader is anyone who holds her – or himself accountable for finding potential in people and process. The term has nothing to do with position, status, or number of direct reports.” Anyone can “dare greatly and lead.”
I wholeheartedly agree with that as the definition of a leader that “dares greatly and leads.” But I think we underestimate the impact when we play small and lead from a place of fear. I think we are sometimes “leaders” even when we don’t hold ourselves accountable. And too many “leaders” lead from a place of no accountability. Sometimes people “lead” in a way that is not positive…
I’ll argue that we can be a leader as:
- a member of a team (at work, church, socially)
- a parent or family member
- any contributing member of society
What? Any contributing member of society can be a leader?? Yes. We all are given the opportunity to lead each and every day. How we show up in life influences and impacts others; either positively or negatively.
How are you showing up in these situations?
- Someone is being harrassed, ridiculed or picked on.
- People are gossiping about someone else at work.
- You see your boss making a decision without all the necessary information – one that may negatively impact your organization but it’s not your “place” to speak up.
- Peers are grumbling about the workload.
- A sales person is getting berrated by a customer.
- Your kids are mean to other kids because someone was mean to them first.
Do you choose to help make a positive impact and “lead” the situation to a better outcome or do you support (or worse yet, lead) the negative? You see, I think we all can choose to lead positively by daring to find the potential in everyone. Or we can choose to be the ringleader or participant in the negativity. Either way, we are a leader.
Now, please know that I’m no saint and I struggle with this everyday too. But if each one of us makes at least one courageous choice to lead in a positive way every day, wow.
So no matter what your title, position, pay grade, etc. how are you going to choose to show up and influence others today?
Want to choose to PLAY BIG in life or work? Check out my webpage and let’s talk about how I can help you get started.
