Leading By Example All The Time

The valedictorian from a local high school spoke to a group I was in a few days ago. He was a particulate person dedicated to providing community service. He was helping a young man during summer camp. He talked about a particular moment or two.

He tells about the major impact he had made on the young man's life. He went on to say that until that moment he had no idea of the impression he was making on the young sixth-grader.

Maybe you can remember a time when you were in one of those two positions. This illustrates how someone in an authority job or position can make a major impact on somebody.

When someone is viewed as an authority figure they generally also are viewed as a leader. It is very typical for someone to look up to someone in authority. The behavior of any leader will influence the behavior of the “followers” in very real-time.

In business, supervisors will naturally have this spot. Here's a couple of points about that phenomenon. There was no formal relationship established.

Leadership will always be “awarded” to the person viewed as the authority. The same situation could apply to many people. People in roles like an aunt or an uncle.

How somebody became the leader doesn't matter. Just being in that position means they will have a big impact on other people. Every day in business when a leader shows up at his or her place of work their direct reports “check-in” to make certain they understand the mood of their boss. Whatever the boss's mood is will affect the entire day for everybody.

If your leader you've got to recognize this situation. If you're a leader you've got to be aware of the impact you're making on others. If you're in a good mood it's very likely you'll notice that all your subordinates are in a good mood too. But, if you're down...

However, you won't like the results of the second mood.

This is a very good reason why you want to know a leader's attributes well. Any little thing you do will be compounded by your team.

This means, of course, you can dramatically improve results by maintaining a positive attitude.

The failure to understand these dynamics will not change their impact. Believe me, others will respond to the leader's behavior. It doesn't matter if the leader knows or doesn't know.

So, if you are the leader formally or informally and you don’t feel good exit the field. The best thing to do is to leave if you don't have good. Don’t let anyone see you in any other way other than upbeat and positive.