Charity begins at home. That’s a saying that most of us are familiar with.
Leadership begins at home on the other hand, is an unfamiliar saying you’ve probably never heard of until now.
Well…I’m saying it now, so it is a ‘saying’.
What on earth does it even mean? Leadership begins at home…
It means that your home is the foundational training ground for your leadership qualities and skills. In other words, your ability to lead yourself and genuinely lead others–without eye service or incentives–starts at home. Your home is where your authenticity as a leader is developed and displayed. Your home is where the real you shows up. Leaders who understand this principle and who consciously let it guide their actions usually do well at home and beyond. Not because they are great human beings or because they are better than other leaders; no. They do well because they are genuinely concerned about serving and building character, rather than becoming different characters in different environments.
Why am I even talking about leadership beginning at home? and why now?
Because I believe that it is a good principle to live by as a leader. I believe that now is a good time to bring it out to the open and also encourage leaders to use it to make their lives and their social systems better. I believe this is the right time for leaders to recognise and cultivate the family mindset which is a key feature of this principle.
Did you know that your home–regardless of where it is or who is part of it–is generally the most real and testing environment that you encounter daily?
I say real because home (or family) is where you are yourself the most. You don’t have to pretend or put up appearances. And I say testing because people in your home or family reveal themselves in their ‘full glory’ both in words and in behaviour. Plus, you get real-time feedback at home and if you have kids, then you are getting regular trying moments where you are being tested. In some cases, you’re being tested in areas you didn’t even know you could be tested in. If this is not leadership training on a grass-root level, I don’t know what is 🙂
I’m not sure if you know this but the dynamic of a family is the model structure for all social systems where there is any form of interaction or relationship. For any group of people to be effective and successful, they need to adopt a family mindset.
That leads us to the question; what is a family mindset?
It is a mindset that although we are different individuals, we are all part of a whole. A mindset that we’ll support each other and do our part to make things work. A mindset that recognises everyone in an environment is a group of people connected by a commonality. That even though we are contributing individually, we are working collectively to achieve outcomes that are beneficial to us as individuals and to the progress of the whole.
Did you know that the family dynamic is the oldest and the most reliable dynamic for growth and success known to man? Well it is. When family dynamic is seen for what it is and understood, it can be worked appropriately which then leads to good, lasting results. This is why the principle of leadership begins at home is an important one for every leader. When you allow it to become a foundation for your reasoning, you will find yourself expressing a family mindset in your behaviour, and ultimately influencing your people for good, lasting results.
So, here’s my charge to you as a leader; increase your knowledge about family dynamics, consciously develop a family mindset, and allow that mindset to inform your behaviour in the social systems where you lead.
Keep Leading Right and Living Light,
Belinda
