What I've Learned so Far About Leadership Pt. 1

If you are a natural leader, you might have realized by now that you rarely choose to be the leader, it just seems to happen. This can be a blessing or a curse depending on how you deal with it. I have had a lot of experiences to be a leader. Sometimes it's awesome and sometimes it is really challenging. Once I embraced my natural tendency to be a leader, I was really able to begin developing as a person.

Always be looking up, there is so much to learn and so much space to grow. 

After having taken groups abroad, led retreats locally, managed teams in many different forms: professionally, recreationally and in emergencies, I have made one very strong observation about being a leader.

The world needs more effective and egoless leaders. 

I believe that where we are stuck as a society is due largely to the fact that we don't have many effective and egoless leaders in the places where we need them.


What does being an effective and egoless leader mean?

You allow others to shine, take credit and succeed.  You trust, see the possibilites and believe in the general good nature of people. You give and create opportunities, setting people up for success to thrive because you believe in their goal and honestly never considered or gave a shit about glory. You are willing and look forward to partnering and collaborating with people. You constantly give and recieve valuable feedback. You admit when you don't fully show up, shortcome others and act out of fear.

Being a leader is tough, but if you love seeing people win, it is the most rewarding practice.

I wish to be very clear that being a natural leader doesn't make you more of a person on any hierarchical scale. In fact by being an effective leader you will allow yourself to be subjected to more criticism than most people will and it will be very difficult. This is a choice and a practice which can be developed or dissolved.

A great lesson that I was taught about leadership from my time at lululemon athletica: 

SUCCESS AS A LEADER ALWAYS COMES BACK TO WHO YOU ARE BEING.

Have you ever had a boss who always passed the buck to someone else? Who never listened to your feedback? Who had a short temper and a very obstacle focused attitude? You probably didn't feel good working for them and quickly developed the same habits of negativity, resentment which lead you to burn-out and hopefully you realizing you needed a change!

There is a very beautiful structure that many large organizations are using to define the practice of leadership. Here it is: 

The following is a combination of what I have 

learned from all of my experiences, 

some have been taught to me and some I have learned. 

The Foundation of Leadership 

Leading Self

In a way, we are really all responsible for leading ourselves. Leading self is the foundation of egoless leadership. Here you take personal responsibility, hold yourself accountable and create boundaries/values/commitments to who you choose to be. The leadership of self ebbs and flows, some days you feel particularly strong and sure of yourself, other days insecurity will force you to question yourself. 

To lead yourself you must be grounded. You are confident that you have value and purpose, but it never leads you to the belief that you have mastered anything. You have a desire to learn more, never declaring yourself as the expert (even when others percieve that you are). You don't settle for anything less than happiness and fulfillment in all aspects of your life. Here you create positive manifestations of success and wonderment. 

These qualities indicate you are leading yourself: 

1. You are aware of your ego. You know when you are taking things personally, you can discern between criticism from another persons ego, and feedback that is truly meant for you to succeed. You are aware of when your ego is driving you for good or for worse. 
2. You are a great communicator. Your words and actions align. You say what you mean from a place of authenticity. You generally don't let your anger or emotions get the best of you & when you do, you clean it up quickly. 
3. You take responsibility and own your mistakes. You are not afraid to make errors or fail. You realize that you pick yourself back up quickly, heal and keep moving forward. 
4. You always realize that you have a choice! You choose what you believe, where you are, what you do and WHO YOU ARE BEING. Opinions of others only matter to you if you decide that they do. 
5. You live in a place of opportunity. Obstacles exist but never stop you from moving forward. You are solutions focused and aways living in what is possible, not "I can't do that because...." 
6. You have integrity. You can count on yourself. You do what you say you will do when you say you will do it. You have built up a positive environment for yourself to live.
7. You are in touch with your body. You make time for self-care, you practice wellness, physically and mentally. 
8. You forgive yourself for the times when things get the better of you. You self-soothe, take time to let the negative emotions flow through you and then let them subside. You take the measures to love yourself. 
9. You have a vision. You aren't going to let life take you completely where everyone else is going. You trust your gut, set intentions and continually move in that direction. You never settle for mediocrity. 

Ask yourself honestly if any of these apply to you. Being a leader begs of you to take the deepest look at yourself and who you are being. When you have identified where you are not really practicing a part of this you get to decide how you proceed. 

I hope that this inspires you to begin leading yourself and committing to doing it every single day (if you are a true leader it will!).