When You Are Not Leading

by Bright Osadiaye, posted in Health & Well-Being, Leadership, Management, Personal Development, Workplace Learning
a boss arguing with his employee
Photo by Yan Krukau on Pexels.com

Whatever your context, leadership is not about yelling at people. Leadership is about working with people. Leadership is not about showing what you know. It is not about trying to prove your point.

As a leader, you are not working for yourself. You are working for your people. And to do that really well, you have got to stop yelling at your people. You have got to stop treating your people like they don’t belong. They do. They belong. They are human beings. They deserve to be treated as human beings, not as animals.

Leadership is more than what you know. If you don’t lead well, what you know don’t count. It doesn’t matter. Your people don’t care about what you know. Your people care about who you are, not what you know.

If you want your people to connect with you, then you have got to show them who you are, not what you know. Show your people love. Show them care. Show that you care about them, that they matter. Give them something to believe in. And show them where you are going, what you are doing to get there.

Because leading other people is about vision. As a leader, if you want your people to change your world, just show them that they are important to you. And they will deliver. Don’t worry about who is going to do what. They will sort things out. But you won’t be able to take your people on a journey if you are the only man in the room, if you are the only man doing all the talking. Leadership is about inclusion.

Leadership is about inclusion and respect. Respect your people and they will respect you. Treat them as people. Include your people and they will include you. Accept your people as they are. Don’t try to change them. Because you can’t. The only person you can change is you, not your people. Accept them as they are.

That is what great leaders do. Great leaders accept people for who they are, not for what they can do for them.

When you catch yourself not treating your people well, when you catch yourself doing the opposite of real leadership, then you are not leading anymore. You have lost yourself. You have abandoned your responsibility. You are just bossing your people. Guess what? People don’t like to be bossed around. Don’t treat your people like that. They deserve more than that. Live your words. Embrace yourself, no matter what. And your people will embrace you. That is leadership.

How To Get Comfortable With What You Are Avoiding In Your Life

by Bright Osadiaye, posted in Health & Well-Being, Leadership, Management, Personal Development, Workplace Learning
woman expressing refusal
Photo by Picas Joe on Pexels.com

We have all messed up in the past. That is okay. You are not alone in your world. You are not the only person going through what you are going through. That is life. Whatever it is that you are going through in your life, do not avoid it. Get to know it. Get comfortable with it.

Whatever it is that you are going through in your business, don’t avoid it. Get to understand it. Get closer to the issue.

If you want to solve a problem, you don’t avoid it; you face it. Whatever it is that you are facing right now, it is better to face it than to avoid it. If leave it, it will get bigger. If you don’t do something about it, it will get bigger. Take action. Do something about it. It is yours to make better. Do not make it worse by running away from it. Get to work.

What is keeping you up at night? What is taking your attention away from other things that you are doing? Is it your life? Is it your business? Is it your customer? Is it your behavior? Is it your kids? Whatever it is, you can do something about it. You can even start with yourself. Yes, start with you. Because if you don’t know how you are contributing to your problem, you won’t know where to start. If you don’t know what you are not doing well, you will find it hard to fix it, to change it.

Instead of avoiding your life, ask yourself, ‘How can I make my life better?’ And you can make it better.

Start by looking at what you are doing that is working. Then ask yourself, ‘Why is it working? What are we doing right? How can I take it to the next level?’ Then move on to what is not working. Ask yourself, ‘Why is this thing not working? What are we missing? Don’t worry about who did what. Talk about how to get things back on track. Ask, ‘How can we make it better.’ Making something better is better than blaming other people for what happened.

Blaming other people doesn’t make things better. It drives people away from making things better.

Remember, you don’t know everything. If you are stuck, don’t remain stuck. Talk to people who are better than you are. Keep your pride. Check your ego at the door. Because if you think you know everything, then you don’t need other people’s help. You don’t need your own help. Why is that? Because you don’t know what you are doing. You don’t even know what you do not know. And you are not willing to ask for help.

Don’t go there! Because no one knows everything. If you think you know-it-all, then you don’t really know what you are doing.

To lead your life forward, whatever it is that is keeping you up at night, stop avoiding it. Face it.