STRATEGIC

LEADERSHIP

INSTITUTE

Why Your Leadership Makes a Difference

A recent best-selling book opens with the sentence “It’s not about you.”  Contrary to cultural indicators of the last two decades, it’s a message that needs to get out.  New observations that point to a transition from the “Me” Generation to the “We” Generation are encouraging as the leaders of tomorrow begin to embrace (if not espouse) God’s mandate to care for our neighbor.  And yet, with a potential movement toward other-centric thinking and service, let’s not forget that “you” are important.

While the bigger picture may not be “about you,” (or me) it does start with you.  Your leadership makes a difference because someone else wants to follow you.  In fact, someone else may need to follow you.  So often, we get caught up with Celebrity Leaders whose name you see in every bookstore or headline, and yet leadership is simply relative.  It relates to the fact that you have some knowledge or experience that someone else has not yet gained or lived.  And so, I choose to follow you because your life, your mission, your contextual vision is something that I get excited about.  It resonates with who I am or want to become.  It resonates with where I want to go or what I want to learn.  I want to grow up to be like you!

At Strategic Leadership Institute, we recognize that every one of us is further along than we were ten years ago, but miles from where we want to be.  We recognize that every dimension of the transformation we desire or envision starts from within.  For that reason, our program contains four key components that support and facilitate that transformation: 1) Personal Assessments of your gifting, calling, and vision. 2) Professional Equipping appropriate to the context of your vocation and workplace role, 3) Community Support and Accountability, and 4) A Personal, Organizational, and Community Strategic Plan to chart your most probable path.

In my office is a quote from the CEO of Getty Images.  It simply reminds me that “People aren’t listening to you…they’re simply watching.”    They are observing how you deal with failure and success.  How you deal with flattery and rejection.  How you deal with wealth and poverty.  How you deal with generosity and greed.  How you deal with praise and slander.  How you deal with children and the elderly.  How you deal with faith and doubt.  The most inspiring “leaders” are those who are committed to leading themselves through the challenges life presents, with an aim toward developing the character and competence God has endowed within us - everything short of a third-day resurrection. Your leadership makes a difference because – whether you like it or not – those around you are watching. 

In Seattle, the upscale retailer Nordstrom is known for starting all their staff on the floor with the customer (usually in the shoe department).  The objective is to learn how to listen, to serve and to care…as a basis for the exchange of value which results in a sale.  Nordstrom “Associates” must learn the needs of a customer if they have any hopes of attracting more customers.  As one who is leading others, your goal is simply to cultivate followers.  However, you must first learn the needs of a follower.  If you have never worked for someone else or come under another’s authority, it will be hard for you to empathize with those who you hope will follow!  If you’re going to lead, you best practice following.  Your leadership makes a difference because the best leaders learn first how to follow. 

Because of my passion for consulting and training in this area of leadership, I always try to be involved in enough places so that I am in authority (as a Board Member or Executive Director), under authority (reporting to a board), and advising authority (consulting with boards and leaders).   This helps me to see the perspectives of most every element affecting organizational decisions and momentum.  Do you place yourself in the shoes of those you lead or who lead you?

In closing, may I encourage you to think ahead?  Our call to service is a mandate from our Lord, and it is the basis for Godly leaders and leadership.  As you look to the future, can you envision how your life and legacy will shape the lives of those who will follow?  To get a glimpse of that, please remember that it’s not who you’re leading, but whose leading you…that will most determine who your followers will become.

Your leadership makes a difference because in every relationship someone is leading, someone is following, and everyone is learning the respective difference and importance.  Here’s to the difference you will make today!

John B. Savage, EMBA is the Executive Director of Strategic Leadership Institute.  He can be reached at JohnS@StrategicLeadership.Org