leadership is not just about guidance, it is about positively influencing people’s lives, says Jai Madaan
leadership has many forms, each is effective in its own way but depending on situations and circumstances, some work better than others. The biggest misconception though, is that the title ‘leader’ is thought of as something that must be validated, that you don’t deserve it without having an achievement.
Everyday leadership is about making the lives of people around you better — and all of us have probably experienced this simple phenomenon. May be you have had an instance where something that someone said to you in a casual conversation triggered a chain reaction and caused you to do some serious (but beneficial) re-evaluation or perhaps changed the way you felt for the betterIJ If you can recollect a moment in which someone said something in passing to you that fundamentally improved your life, it is highly likely that you have had a similar impact on someone else.
Sometimes, even the things you do, that you think are insignificant, make big differences to the people around you and you have no idea whose lives you have changed Professional leadership requires a slightly different angle. An indispensable trait of a good leader is that you should be willing to listen to your colleagues and willing to be reverse mentored from lower ranks. A leader isn’t good because he is always right — he is good because he is willing to learn and to trust.
While leading a team, you should also understand where peoples’ individual skill sets lie. This helps you to know who to delegate certain tasks to (try thinking of everyone you work with as having one special super power). Don’t put a lot of effort into being liked. Developing professional relationships is vital but being liked and being respected are two different things. Be straightforward and base your leadership on clarity, not on the hope of being seen positively — you need to care deeply about people, without caring what they think about you. Being supportive is also a key. Stanley McChrystal said, “leaders can let you fail and not let you be a failure.”
On a day-to-day basis, however, it is imperative that people start valuing and taking notice of the influence they can have on each other’s lives. You are capable of executing leadership every day and you owe it to yourself to understand how powerful an agent for change you can be in this world. The consequences of having a positive impact on just one person are limitless.