Being a Leader

A leader is not about being right or wrong. It is not about telling others what to do. It is not about being the best. It is not about being perfect. It is not about taking credit. In fact, it is much more than that...

A leader should be right and wrong. They should be human and make the decisions that become right or wrong. They are the people who listen and listen well. They hear and feel what others say. They absorb it, learn from it and make the decisions that must be made. It's not always the easy decision or the right one. It's just a decision.

A leader shouldn't tell others what to do or what to accomplish. You should empower them to accomplish, to explore, to make decisions, to take ownership and to learn. You are the nurturer, the "helper" and the guide. You should listen to your team, learn from your team and encourage forward movement. A leader who closes his ears, has no one following him.

A leader should never be the best person on a team. A leader should be the magnet for the best people to revolve around. To interact. To think and to execute. You are there to listen and learn from the best, to encourage them to work together for the common goal. To remind them why they are the best.

A leader is never perfect and should make mistakes. The process of learning is just a series of mistakes made on a long journey. A journey filled with circumstances, situations and outside influence. One with many forks and outcomes. Some promising and some empty. In order to learn, you have to listen, observe and react. A life stopped learning is a life not fulfilled. Mistakes are meant to be made just as decisions are. The crime isn't in making a mistake, it is not learning from that mistake.

And once all the decisions have been made, the mistakes corrected, your team empowered and the goal has been fulfilled, you do what all great leaders should do. You acknowledge others. You commend the team. You say and truly believe one thing, "We did it!"