Disposition not Position
Position has little to do with authentic leadership. A common belief is that leadership is strictly the domain of the boardroom or senior management, this is simply not true. I’ve met and worked with several Chief Executives who were positional leaders, hiding insecurities behind a thinly-disguised ego, corporate tyrants that rely upon the falsehood of status, oblivious to the detrimental impact of their behaviour on the success of the organisation.
Leadership is the ability to influence, not manipulation or command. Influence can be achieved at all levels of business. That means that everyone is or can be a leader if they chose to b
e. It isn’t necessary to be in the top job to influence others to greater productivity. True leadership is the all rounder, the person who has the ability to inspire the good will of peers, bosses, reports, reports of other leaders, and reports of reports.
Some years ago I was an account manager for a large telecommunications company. The propositions were complex and the sales cycle was elongated, often over a year between inception and fulfillment. Ultimately the buck stopped with me, yet my success was strictly reliant upon the engagement and performance of the team around me. The point I’m seeking to share with you is that I had no positional authority over these people. There wasn’t a reporting line between me and the people who could make or break my success. I didn’t have a positional status to falsely assume leadership from.
I had to influence these people by genuinely respecting their view of the world, appreciating their unique talents and abilities, authentically wanting to know them better, helping them to be their best by encouraging them to go beyond their self- limitations to produce their best work, and ensuring they received the credit they deserved. That is true leadership, and we got results. I will always be grateful to those people (and you know who you are!) because my success was their doing.
None of this is shared in the hope of impressing you, rather to impress upon you that true leadership is not found in the reporting structure, it’s in the person. It’s about disposition, not position.
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