Who Are You Leading?

Leader… Ship Happens – WHO are you leading?

We have heard it said that leadership is a position… leaders are born… there are those blessed people amongst us called “Leaders”. As we walk around with these demi-gods, we must come to the realization that we are them! We are leaders!

“Not me Daryl”, you say.

“Yes, you!” I retort.

With leadership being simply influence, we are all leaders! With this being the basic truth, one of the first questions that comes to mind is, WHO? Who do I lead?

You inquire with doubt, “If I am a leader Daryl… Mr. Smarty Pants... then WHO exactly am I leading/influencing?”

“Everyone you come in contact with” I humbly reply with the realization that your pants are just as smart as mine (OK… the post content is somewhat random also!).

We influence anyone we come in contact with. Everything we do is observed and interpreted by the people around us. An interaction occurs with anyone that is within eye or ear shot of you. It might be the person you are having contact with and it might be that person that is standing behind you in line or it might be that person you sneered at earlier today when they cut you off in traffic. Did you know that anyone that drives faster than me is a maniac and anyone that drives slower is an idiot? How’s that for influence. If I allowed those ideas to shape my behavior, I would be leading someone, because my behavior influences others.

“You have got to be kidding me mister!” you quip.

“You mean I have to be on-guard and watch my behavior all day and night, during every waking minute because I influence people? What kind of obsessive manic are you?” you politely ask.

“I am the kind of manic that has come to realize that people are watching me and my behaviors communicate. I need to be aware of that.” I state emphatically.

Because, like it or not, we all lead others through our behaviors, words, facial and emotional expressions, and non-verbal and para-verbal expressions. But most important of all to keep in mind is we lead strongest with those that are closest to us. Those that know us attribute the most to our behaviors, words, and expressions… and the closer they are, the greater the level of influential leadership.

Once we realize this, then another question begs an answer. HOW? How do we lead those we interact with? We will chew on that bone next time!

Leadership Happens in Life

Leader… Ship Happens:

As John Maxwell so succinctly puts it, “Leadership is influence”. In this simple one-word definition lays so much truth for daily living. With simply defining leadership as influence, you cannot escape its power on daily life. We all have influence over someone… family, friends, co-workers, the person behind us in the drive-thru, the 6pm tele-marketer that calls during dinner, anyone we have contact with at all during the course of the day or night. We influence each other with our simple daily interactions, or lack there of.

With this truth at play during our entire day, three main questions push to the fore front:

* WHO are you leading?

* HOW are you leading them?

* And WHAT is your impact?

That is going to be the focus of this blog. The daily adventures of leadership for us average Joe’s and Jane’s. I welcome your submissions as I share mine. Some times these posts will be humorous, sometimes serious. Sometimes informational and sometime anecdotal. The writings that appear here will be varied in topic and author, but all will relate to the life journey of leadership in the real world in all its glory and horror.

If you wish to contribute, please send your submissions to lifeleadership@sbcglobal.net. Remember to submit them in the Who, How, and What format (asterisked points listed above) and keep the submissions around 300 to 400 words or so. When new submissions are posted, I will notify you through my Face book page and/or Twitter, so sign up as a Face book friend or a Twitter follower to get the notifications.

The next several posts will flesh out the WHO, HOW and WHAT questions and try to provide a framework for this picture of Life Leadership we are drawing together.