Leadership POV

Are you ever fascinated by someone who is at the top of their game?

Take for instance sports, popularity is at its peak when there is a dominant team or individual winning consistently.

Translate this to leadership: if you want to become a better leader, you need to study what great leaders are already doing.

Even though there is no prototype for an effective leader, the best ones know their strengths and leverage them daily.

• Phil Jackson was a master at managing egos.

• Steve Jobs was an incredible visionary.

• Ronald Regan was a dynamic communicator.

In the Clifton Strengths assessment, there’s a talent called Maximizer.

It’s the drive towards excellence, both in task and people.

Basically it’s the study and pursuit of success.

As a leader, who are you drawn towards?

Most likely that person has a skill or character trait that is alluring.

I’d recommend is setting up informational interviews with leaders you admire.

1. Connect with them on a personal level.

2. Ask them questions and listen to their answers.

3. Understand how they critically think.

If possible shadow them, observe and “pick their brain.”

I know that term is criticized, yet at its core is comprehending the thought process.

You may have heard the phrase “nerding out” before which is getting deep into the details of a specific subject.

Like when two engineers dive into the development process or two basketball coaches sharing about game situation strategies.

I’ve found myself in situations where I can be a fly on the wall during insightful conversation.

For example, I was one of the youngest in my Masters cohort and I would soak up a ton of information from my classmates discussions.

This actually brings up a bigger point: who are the smarter people you are surrounding yourself with?

If you’re only comfortable being around people at your intelligence level or lower, you’ll never grow.

In fact, challenge yourself to be in situations where you might be the dumbest person in the room.

That’s not self-deprecating, it forces you to ‘up your game.’

You are the sum total of the people you surround yourself with most, so you need to be strategic.

But leadership is not all about receiving, it’s also choosing to develop leaders…who are you investing in?

• So find those leaders you want to be like and reach out.

• Then identify potential in others you can pour into.

Leadership is a two-way street where information is learned, then taught.

Hope that is helpful to you.

God Bless,

Scott

If you found this helpful and you’re looking to improve your soft skills as a leader, here are ways to work with me directly:

• 🗣 Hire me to speak at your company or next event (watch my speaking reel here)

• 🎤 Invite me to lead an interactive training workshop, remotely or in-person (depending on location)

• 🤝 Start 1:1 coaching with me as a new manager, current leader or executive (I once managed 30 people 1:1 weekly❗️)

Also, you can help me out by forwarding this to friends whom would benefit from it! Thank you!