Dear Daughter,
I’ve realized more and more lately that a lot of people don’t really know the true definition of a leader. People know the standard definition of leadership, that it is the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization, but few know how to actually be a great leader. I also have not seen many leaders who have an active plan for becoming the leader they want to be.
So what is true leadership? Well, we all have different expectations of a leader, but I can tell you what kind of leader that I want to be, Elsa. Hopefully I help inspire you to define your leadership style. My first priority as a leader has always been to support my team and set them up for success. I do this not just because of the fact that without my team I am nothing, but also because I genuinely care about them, and they know that I will do everything I can for them. I do that for the same reason that I’m writing these posts for you, Elsa, because I want to share everything I’ve learned in my career to give you a jump ahead in yours. I spend a lot of time coaching and mentoring people to ensure I give all my learnings to others. If your goal is to make a difference in the world, paying it forward and helping people grow in their career is an easy way to do so. By helping others get promotions you are helping them build a life!
When I say I genuinely care for my team, I mean it. If you don’t care about other people, you shouldn’t become a manager. If you don’t enjoy being a manager, your direct report will be able to tell right away that you are not authentic or self-aware as a leader, and you would be wasting both your and their time. I wish more people would think about this before they become managers and leaders. A bad manager and leader can have a detrimental impact on someone's career and happiness. I think you will be an amazing leader and manager, Elsa, but please think about if you want to be a manager before you take on that role in your career. Another thing to consider is the importance of being authentic and honest. I don’t know everything, and I’m very honest about that. I can only share what I’ve learned so far, but I will always go the extra mile to try to help them find the answers. So my advice, Elsa, is to be yourself, be authentic, and lead with your heart. If you embrace the things that make you who you are, your leadership style will naturally fall into place.
I’ve always been able to observe situations and read people, which has been helpful to me as a leader. Since my background is in project management, I’ve always had to take a step back and look at both my project and team to come up with a strategy to make the project successful. I’ve also had to look at our project and business processes ongoing to see where we could make things more efficient. This has helped me become open to new ideas. If you are not open to new ideas and willing to change, you will never be successful. I would say that listening to your team and being open to new approaches should be something you add to your attributes as a leader, Elsa.
Another big role as a leader is to make sure my team understands the company vision and how their work impacts that vision. I communicate company updates and goals to my team ongoing. It can sometimes be difficult for someone to see where they fit in with a company’s vision, so I make sure I work with my team to break it down and help them create a plan for themselves that is aligned with the company’s goal.
This leadership approach and focus is not something that just fell into place for me, instead I made a conscious decision and created an active plan to make sure I became the leader I wanted to be. Everyone wants to feel respected, valued and supported (RVS), and I make sure I make my team feel that way. It’s not that difficult to understand, but yet so many leaders fail at it. You need to define what kind of leader you want to be, make sure that your plan includes RVS and then create an active plan for how you are going to get there. If you do that starting now, Elsa, you will be ahead of the game.
