On Leadership, And Being a Leader
By Wade Pack, Managing Partner
On the subjects of leadership and being a leader, much has been written and much has been said (more on that later). In this article, I humbly submit a few of my own thoughts and feelings on those subjects. But the goal here is not to add my two cents to the voluminous record – the goal is to share with you just a few of the things I believe (emphasis) I have learned. Hopefully those things move you to consider your own thoughts and feelings on leadership and being a leader, and perhaps even cause you to see things a little differently than before.
First, some ground-rules and housekeeping items. I have been given certain guidelines by the BRC Blog/Newsletter Committee:
- At least 300 words (but not too long so as to lose the reader’s attention)
- Be conversational
- Make your article your own
In this case, meeting the minimum word requirement couldn’t be much easier (we’re already over 100, and I’m not even counting the prepositions). Plus, as I alluded to parenthetically earlier, there is no shortage of writings and orations about leadership and being a leader. Books, speeches, studies, documentaries, videos – do a quick search on the internet and a mountain of information is at your disposal. It’s no problem finding enough words to include here; the real challenge for me is to be concise.
So, let’s get to it then. And guess what? We already have before us what I believe are several key facets of leadership and being a leader. First, we HAVE A VISION: we want an article on leadership and being a leader, we want the article to be a certain length, a certain style, and we want it to derive from the heart and mind of the author.
Without the vision, how would we know where we wanted to go? Having a vision helps you get started, keeps you guided along the way and lets you know when you’ve reached your goal. And maybe just as importantly here, this particular vision is one that originates through collaboration. I didn’t come up with all of the criteria. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even pick the subject. But by working with others here at BRC, many people shared in the creation of the vision. So for me, leadership, and being a leader, entails a goal to ENGAGE OTHERS, and ENGAGE WITH OTHERS. Remember, everyone leads in their own way and at different times. (By the way, we’re well over 200 words now.)
Next, I’m doing my level best to BE CONCISE. This is another very important part of leadership and being a leader. Keep it short and to the point, but make sure it says what you want it to say. (How’s that?)
Okay, I can’t really stop there. Because for me, being concise means you can BE STRAIGHT FORWARD. And being straight forward means having HONESTY and having INTEGRITY. And when you have all that, then we can build TRUST. Finally, enough said (on that).
And now for my favorite part: KEEP IT FUN! If we can’t have fun doing it, then what’s the point? Life is too short. Fun brings energy, enthusiasm, enjoyment and engagement (there’s that again). But we are talking about having fun while conducting business – I look for ways to make it fun to do business, not the other way around.
Look at that, we’re ready for a summary:
HAVE A VISION. BE CONCISE. ENGAGE OTHERS. ENGAGE WITH OTHERS.
BE STRAIGHT FORWARD. Have HONESTY and INTEGRITY. Build TRUST.
KEEP IT FUN!
I hope what I’ve shared has helped you, made you recognize some of your own thoughts and feelings on leadership and being a leader, and even perhaps raised your desire to lead and given you some insights on how to go about it. And I would love to hear feedback from you. Please contact me at any of our following offices using the Let’s Connect! button below: