GET YOUR LEADERSHIP ON

Leadership. This word is tricky, because I’ve been hearing a lot of my friends and associates claiming they’re not leaders.

We’ve been taught that “Leaders” look a certain way or have a certain position or title. But I believe EVERYONE IS A LEADER. We lead others at work, in our circles of friends, and at the very basic level….we lead ourselves. WE ARE THE LEADER OF OUR LIVES. We are the CEO of our reality, and how it turns out. So, I implore you, if you don’t consider yourself a leader….start; because YOU ARE THE ONLY ONE IN CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE.

For me, I was born a natural leader, and I knew it from an early age. I would rally the neighborhood kids to put on a backyard circus and be the first to stand for justice in school if I felt a student or teacher was being treated unfairly. I created my own “give back” clubs, and lead through athletics and academics. I say all of this not to impress you- but to ‘fess up on something I realized.

A lot of that leadership came from a place of wanting to be in control of a situation, of wanting that situation to turn out the way I saw it working best. Now, there’s nothing inherently WRONG with this type of leadership (I don’t believe in wrong/right) but it certainly isn’t leadership where everyone wins. I was leading from a position of “here’s what I think is right” versus “here’s what I think works for everyone.”

From that position, I took the responsibilities all on MYSELF, which not only disempowered ME, but disempowered OTHERS. If I were able to lead from a place of CONTRIBUTION versus CONTROL, I would have been able to empower others into their leadership in asking for support to build out a vision that works for everyone.

What I’m getting clear about, more and more every single day, is that LEADERSHIP IS ABOUT EMPOWERING OTHERS and CREATING WIN/WIN’s.

If we, as leaders (which we ALL are, remember!?) lead from a place of control and righteousness, we miss a HUGE opportunity to lead from our hearts and empower others to step into their leadership.

So whether you’re the CEO of “XYZ INC.” and leading a company through a massive product launch or the CEO of “ME INC.” and leading yourself through a heated conversation with a loved one—-you get to step into your leadership from a place of PURE CONTRIBUTION. You get to ask yourself: How can I empower others in this moment? How can I create a win/win for ALL parties involved? How can I respond from a place love, even though I may be hurt?

LEADERS ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RESULTS IN THEIR LIVES, victim’s are not.

The beauty: YOU get to choose.