It’s Called Leadership!
“Why should I do that?” she asked.
“It’s called leadership.” I said trying to reassure her. “It’s what leaders do.”
Webster defines leadership. College textbooks define leadership. Leadership books define leadership. I even define leadership. (Leadership: Beyond the Dictionary Definition)
Sometimes those definitions are adequate and sometimes they are not. Some are very academic, some are theoretical and some are practical. But what does leadership look like? Is there a list of actions that illustrate leadership?
There is now!
It’s Called Leadership – A List
It’s Called Leadership – The List
This list is meant to be descriptive and not comprehensive. This list is one man’s list. Please add to it in the comments section.
- It’s called leadership when I mentor a teammate.
- It’s called leadership when I mentor a teenager.
- It’s called leadership when I stop and correct an employee for a small mistake.
- It’s called leadership when I make a bad decision and learn from it.
- It’s called leadership when I challenge my boss’s ideas.
- It’s called leadership when I do work that is below my position on the org chart because my team is short staffed today.
- It’s called leadership when I admit my past mistakes to my team and ask for feedback on how I can get better.
- It’s called leadership when I fire an employee who does not demonstrate the core values of my team.
- It’s called leadership when I correct someone for a bad attitude.
- It’s called leadership when I hold myself as much or more accountable than I do others.
- It’s called leadership when I insure all my actions are in line with my words.
- It’s called leadership when I put away my personal comfort for the good of my people.
- It’s called leadership when I make an exception to a policy when it is warranted.
- It’s called leadership when I change a strategy I came up with because one of my people developed a better one.
- It’s called leadership when my team knows they are more important to me than a promotion.
- It’s called leadership when I admit to my son that I was wrong to punish him without getting his full story.
- It’s called leadership when I make a hard yet better choice versus an easier poor choice.
- It’s called leadership when I get off my computer when an employee calls me or enters my office.
- It’s called leadership when I stand firmly behind an unpopular but necessary decision upper management makes.
- It’s called leadership when I praise an employee for his actions, even though I do not like him personally.
- It’s called leadership when I fire someone I hired as soon as I realize hiring her was a mistake.
- It’s called leadership when I let a meeting stray from the agenda because a more important issue has emerged.
- It’s called leadership when I keep a meeting moving despite people wanting to chase urgent but less important topics.
- It’s called leadership when I spend as much time on people development as I do on spending, conserving or moving around resources.
- It’s called leadership when I develop people to the point they could do my job.
- It’s called leadership when my team can operate well without me present.
- It’s called leadership when I leave work early to help my wife handle a situation with my daughter at school.
- It’s called leadership when I give in to a better idea.
- It’s called leadership when I do the right thing even when my peers advise me not too.
- It’s called leadership when I let others make mistakes so they can learn.
- It’s called leadership when I set goals, coach performance and hold people accountable for reaching those goals.
- It’s called leadership when I change a process that has always worked because a new and better way has emerged.
- It’s called leadership when I get fired for making a moral stand.
- It’s called leadership when my family knows they are more important to me than my job.
The Bottom Line:
This list may never end. As a leader I am called to lead. Actions make me a leader not the title I hold or the words that I use. People follow character and our character is the sum total of our habits – the good habits and the bad habits.
The more I act like a leader, the more likely I am to be considered a leader by others. An academic or a leadership consultant is not needed to define leadership for us. We all know leadership when we see it.
Ask yourself:
”When someone asks why I did something, can I truly say, ‘It’s called leadership?’ If not, what should I call it?”
Question:
What have I left off the list?
It’s called leadership when you hold people you like and people you don’t like to the same standard.
Great addition to the list!
It’s called leadership when I call out a professional due to their lack professionalism.
Yes! Speaking with candor! I define candor as: Saying what needs to be said, when it needs to be said, to whom it needs to be said.
It’s called leadership when people wish to follow you, not because they have to.
That is when you know you are witnessing a real leader!
It is called leadership when you provide purpose, direction, and motivation to another in order to help them accomplish something important to the team.
Purpose, direction and motivation are all part of the leader’s role. For the best people, purpose and direction will be all the motivation they need.
It’s called leadership to identify to stray outside your comfort zone (and duty description) to identify core issues within an organization.
It’s called leadership to identify problems within your organization… and then step forward to fix them.
It’s called leadership when you fix problem for your leaders before they know they have that problem.
It’s called leadership to make it clear that your mentors and coworkers were responsible for generating the great ideas that fixed your boss’s problem.
It’s called leadership to give your boss what he needs, not what he wants.
It’s called leadership to keep firm hours and force yourself to stick to deadlines, even when they are self imposed.
It’s called leadership to tuck in your kids and read to them.
It’s called leadership to thank the blog author for a provocative post!