If you want people to follow you, to listen to you, to work for you, you have to be you. Do not try to be who you are not. Don’t try to make yourself look smarter than you are. Because that is not what leading other people is about.
Leading other people is not about what you know. It is not about what you say. It is not about your position in the society.
Leadership is about connection. It is about making connections with real people. It is about representing something- popular or unpopular- it doesn’t matter.
Leadership is about seeing people as people. It is about loving people for who they are, not for what they can do for you.
Leadership is about doing, not about talking. Because great leaders work. They do the work. They don’t just talk about what they will do, but they actually do what they say they will do.
When you are leading other people, you have got to be okay with the fact that people are different, that people want different things. You have got to be okay with the fact that people are chasing different dreams, that they are going through different things in their lives. You have got to accept the fact that you are their leader, that you have the power, the wisdom, the love, to help them get better, to give them hope.
You have got to accept the fact that no matter how good you are, no matter how smart you are, whether you put your people first or last, some of your people are not going to be okay with your leadership. Some are going to challenge you. Others are just going to go with the flow.
As their leader, you are supposed to lead them, not to ignore them. Listen to them. Ask them what their concerns are. Because you have a lot to learn from them.
Remember, an organization is one with many characters. To learn from them, you have got to love them for who they are. And they will love you for who you are. That is leadership.
Great leaders love people for who they are, not for what they can do for them.
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