Leadership starts with me

3/11/2018 Update to this post...

I am adding to this post because my vision and beliefs about leadership has changed somewhat, well I believe it is more of an update.

Leadership is influence without question.  Now I feel that we can add to that statement empathy, compassion and consideration.  SO here is the update...Leadership is deploying empathy, compassion and consideration for the people that we influence. 

I have come to realize that leadership needs, no it must be, to be consistent across all areas of life.  At work is where we usually think of leadership. We many times forget that we are leaders at home, on the soccer field, in the communities we serve and in the workplace.

In the workplace many leaders believe they must be tough, hard and keep a firm line for the team or company.  Well I say NO and yes!  Again being a good leader is about treating the people well, fairly and with empathy.  Yes there will be times that you'll have to discipline, reprimand or even fire.  This can all be done with respect and diginity.

Expectations are key here.  Have you set a realistic and specific expecatation of what you want to see from them.  Again, in all areas.  I know it sounds wierd to set expectations at home, but guess what.  We do this everyday with our actions.  What we do, say and how we act with our family is setting the expectation of how they will or should act.

Many times in a marriage we allow the wife/spouse to lead the family issues and concerns.  Just like in the workplace we have to be leaders everywhere we are.  Not overbearing, not obnoxius but empathetic, compassionate and considerate of those around us, that is true leadership.  We may not agree with others and their views but we can be open and listen.  Agree to disagree as Dale Carnegie puts it.

We should teach and model leadership to our families and children at ever moment.  Sure we will make mistakes and lose our cool, but the leadership shows when we admit the mistake, own up to it, apologize when necessary and show others how to move on and continue the journey.

In addition, I will be holding a Leadership Training on March 15th, 21st and 29th at the Opportunity Machine 537 Cajundome Blvd Lafayette, LA 70506.  Contact me if you'd like to attend. richard@thewolfespeaks.com 

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8/6/2017 POST
Yes leadership always starts with us.  See leadership it very simply influence and we all influence someone. 

Don’t you?

Think about it, we all have someone in our life we influence especially ourselves.  The real question is are we doing this on a positive or a negative note?

I believe that as leaders the first person we MUST lead is ourselves.  When we start with ourselves it sets the tone for others to follow and we then begin to build the confidence in ourselves to then work with others.  As we gain responsibility outside of ourselves this leadership grows, but we need to be mindful of how this plays out.

Neglecting to do the work to be a solid role model can become a problem in career and home life.

Becoming an intentional leader is important as well.  True leadership is all about people and when the people are good then we can get to work on managing the tasks and making things happen.  These aren't mutually exclusive, I have found that we lead the people and then we manage the tasks and do the work to reach a desired outcome.  

Leadership is the "how" and management is the "what", leaders say let's go and start down the path to toward the vision.  But it all starts with why...


Until next time...The Wolfe