Personal Leadership.
We display it on the most important and the least important days of our lives - and all of those sunny and cloudy days in between. When did you last decide to do something? How many people did you take with you? How many people did you really take with you? Or perhaps you had a debate about your own judgement yourself.
Whereas traditional leadership is founded on the credible and empowered leading of others, personal leadership can certainly be this, but is also about being a good follower. Strange. Leaders don't follow, do they?
It is a mathematical improbability that any more than one tenth of the people reading this will be senior leaders - therefore following is always part of the story - not just following someone, but following the right strategy and the right direction. Success is not a position or title, but an attitude and an outlook.
Before we leap to change or motivate others, we should first accept to design (& re-design) ourselves. We should first of all become the great change we wish to see in others.
Most of us are similar to driftwood, floating on the tide. Bobbing up and down, spinning over - at the partial behest of the surrounding and choppy sea. We will (as with driftwood) become victims of tidal circumstance and the prevailing conditions. But personal leaders believe they do have significant control - over most of their decisions and outcomes, most of the time.
Personal leaders are very valuable to companies - this is because they are highly contributory workers but often cost shareholders less money. Less? This is because the most of them (employee mathematics), will be further down (hierarchically) through an organisation.
One day however, they will cost more money - and this is an extremely good thing - as personal leaders will continue to contribute at least in proportion, as they push the boundaries of their own tenacity, curiosity & development.
Boards and Divisional Directors should love personal leaders. Why? Because personal leadership is not about accepting the status quo and is also not about being entrenched in comfort zones; it is about seeking improvements in both quality & efficiency.
It really only takes a moment, to know this is true. Every progressive change made to our way of life, and any genuine upgrade to humankind has only come about through significant struggle and by rejecting the way things are, as not being quite good enough.
Personal leaders accept the challenge & measured risk to make things better - and to inspire others to become better. In contrast, most of us (population mathematics) will accept only a limited degree of risk or accountability.
There is a real difference between seeking to become a winner - and - being afraid to lose. Consider that most of us are probably more stale in our roles than others would think, and are probably more bored - than we would widely admit. This is partly down to most of us not being encouraged to use our own initiative and our decision making power. We might think of ourselves as being let off a burden of responsibility. Lucky us?
O. R. Couchman "What Floor Are You On?" © 2022
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