About two weeks ago, I was named one of the top 25 most influential young professionals in Colorado by Colorado Biz Magazine. Needless to say, I’m honored to make the list – unfortunately, I’ll miss the dinner on September 30th when they announce the top 5 as I’ll be out of town (but I have my finger’s crossed). Today I received a message from a writer who is composing an article for the magazine and she asked for a few sentences on what it takes to be a leader.
My first thought was that there are about a billion books on the topic – why would she want my few sentences? But I considered a second time and realized that I know I would rather hear advice from people like me over a big book written by someone in the corporate world (I don’t consider myself or my company very “corporate” – so there is a difference). So I gave it a shot and here’s what came from my gut:
“Being a good leader is about trust and integrity – you have to provide the right amount of direction and encourage ownership – and then let go. Another person will never do things exactly as you would do them, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. You have to be able to identify when something is different, but equally effective, as opposed to when it will not achieve the goal. And in the end, you have to be willing to share the success or the failure – a good leader only blames herself when things go wrong.“
Now admittedly, before hitting the send button, I spent about 10 minutes browsing the internet to make sure that my response sounded “different”, as even though I had written from my gut, I had this unnerving feeling that I was paraphrasing from something I had read somewhere along the way (which I no doubt am – it’s a popular topic after all). I was happy to see that my answer differed from the first few I came across, and then it became clear that it differed from everything I found in my short internet search.
The truth is, every leader has their own definition of what makes a good leader – some people just haven’t taken the time to define it (and most haven’t been forced into it like I was today).
So now I’m asking you – what’s your description of what it takes to be a leader?
