A Leadership Idea: Grow Up and Lead

What started as a leadership rant for me is developing into an transforming idea: it's easy to lead when things are going well and a leader is on top but it’s what leaders choose to do when they are at the bottom that defines them.

People are unique. Leadership experiences are too. You are responsible for yours.

Photo credit: iStockphoto

With this as my premise, I developed a manifesto. About this time last year, you voted my manifesto into the ranks of ChangeThis. The dedicated team at ChangeThis has been working away since then preparing over 190 manifestos for publication and now, it's my turn.

My manifesto, Grow Up and Lead, is live!

It's a work in progress. Even now, I can see how my thoughts have evolved since this first writing. It was difficult to not to take pen to paper and rewrite the whole thing but I wanted to remember where and how it all started.

Ideas come, ideas go and every now and then, I'll see an idea that stops me in my tracks. When it does, it's the perspective or the way the idea is nuanced that resonates with me. If an idea helps me re-frame an assumption or recognize a hidden belief, I am hooked. At the very least, presented well, an idea can be very entertaining.

Take a look at my manifesto and tell me what you think. What resonated with you and what fell flat? Where can I develop it further and where did I get off track? What did I miss? What would you add?

Ideas can define or destroy you.  I vote for define.

By Lisa Rosendahl

A Leadership Manifesto

Leadership is a choice and it is rewarding if chosen for the right reasons. A leader seeking glory, fulfillment of self-interests, or a way to get others to do the things their way is short sighted and will not succeed.

iStockphoto

A Leadership Checklist

Whether you are a first time leader or one accepting the mantle again, there is a tendency to want "do it right." Yet despite what thousands of books on leadership suggest, you cannot checklist your way to leadership. Studies have gleaned qualities and competencies common to impactful leaders but that’s where the similarities end.

How the qualities and competencies are applied in day-to-day situations individual and unique. There isn't a prescribed right way to do leadership but there are principles successful leaders espouse. And here's the thing, the ways leaders apply these principles are as varied as the numbers of leaders themselves. People are unique. Leadership experiences are too.

Grow up and Lead

Leadership is not easy. In order to inspire others, leaders need to be inspired themselves. Leaders bring out the others but first you have to acknowledge the best in yourself. The challenges a leader faces are endless: unmotivated workers, disconnected systems, unsupportive management and unyielding family members.

For leaders to effectively lead, only one thing remains.

The Heart and Wisdom of a Leader

The line from the song by REO Speedwagon comes to mind when I think of leaders who want to throw in the towel,  “I just can’t fight the feeling anymore, I forgot what I was fighting for.” They’ve forgotten why they’ve chosen to lead or they’ve lost themselves in the process. It’s up to us to help them remember.

What is your reason for leading, today and in the future?

===> If you liked this proposal, click through to ChangeThis  and select "Yes, please write this manifesto." Top voted proposals on Jan 4 will be selected to write and publish a full manifesto.