Climbing The Leadership Ladder

Dear Leader,

If your mind and actions are focused on progressing up the leadership ladder so that more people can serve you and you can lord it over them; perish the thought!

It doesn’t matter if that pattern of reasoning is due to what other leaders before you have done. Or because you genuinely think that’s what your role as a leader is; seriously, let go of that way of thinking because it’s not helpful. I know this is not for everyone because sadly, not everyone is interested in doing leadership right or ethically. But for those of you leaders who want to truly impact your people. For those of you who want to do good work that improves your organisation, heed my counsel; you can’t think or reason like that.

Look around you for a moment, the times are clearly telling us through events and circumstances that things are changing. There’s glaring evidence around us that the behaviour this kind of reasoning produces cannot sustain a team or an entire organisation, both in comfortable and challenging times.

Truth be told, this way of thinking is not something you’ll say out loud to anyone. Mostly because; far be it from you to be seen as thinking like that right? I know the feeling, we all have those hidden thoughts that we’d rather keep hidden. In any case, deep down in your heart, you know that your leadership progression is driven by what you can get and how you can get people to promote your own interests. If this is you (or it sounds like a friend of a friend 😉), your leadership-view needs an awakening and I’ll bring you that awakening in a few words.

Leadership will not work for you until you have worked for others through it.

Let that sink in…

Here’s what I mean by that. Leadership usually starts out as personal because it starts with you but it’s never private because it is designed to involve people. If your goal as a leader is to climb the leadership ladder and make a positive difference, then you must become familiar with this word and practice it; serve!

Did you know that you were not assigned your leadership position so that you will be served? You were assigned it in order to serve. Your position requires you to give your time, effort, and skills for the benefit of others and your organisation. Until you understand this principle of serving, you will not experience the joy of true leadership or enjoy its rewards. Your role requires you to willingly serve others and to have a disposition of humility as you do it. Humility in the sense of not exaggerating your level of importance or behaving in ways that reflect a bloated sense of self-importance.

Serving for the good of others, with a disposition of humility, usually turns around to work for one’s own good anyways. It usually has a ripple effect that establishes a good culture and rewards all involved. It is while serving that you are able to rightly influence behaviour and situations for good; for the long-term. It is also in serving others that you build a good reputation for yourself and progressively advance.

Adopt a serving attitude today and do so with a disposition of humility.

Lead Right and Live Light,

Belinda