The last year was undoubtedly a shock for everyone across the globe. As a leader, you would have to be a blind one, let alone, an inefficient one not to address the affect the pandemic had on the world. What does all this mean for leadership though? Some leaders may scrambling still to think about the future of their company, stakeholders, financials, and even, what does it mean for their own position? But in my opinion, the real question for true leaders now is what does that mean for the future of their people; our people? Because I believe as leaders, we are all in this together.
When the pandemic first hit, all leaders froze for a considerable amount of time. I also know that it is the pandemic that has weeded out the true leaders from the title leaders. What’s a title leader? Well, you may already know one, and you may already know where I am going with this… but a title leader is in a leadership role just because he or she has been given the title of Manager, Director, VP, CEO, Owner, or Founder. Does this really mean that this individual is a leader? In my opinion, no. What do you think though? Let’s find out why though if you do not already know why I feel this way about “title” leadership.
Often we believe that we promote individuals that are “qualified” into leadership roles for various reasons. Perhaps we think it is the next step in their career as it is a natural progression for him or her. As most of you know, I come from a predominate sales and event background, so I use a lot of these stories as references. One of the biggest misconceptions in sales is that when your top salesperson continues to “kill it” or continually surpass his or her goals for a long time then it might be time to look at a promotion. While a promotion is not necessarily off the table for your top salesperson, as a leader, it is your job to evaluate this individual as a potential leader too. I found often that the best salesperson was not always the best leader for the team, division, region, etc… and I learned this lesson the hard way. Because, isn’t that how I learned every lesson as such a young executive and leader? Yes, for the most part and that’s why I share this advice on this blog.
In my opinion though, I feel this is transferrable across most professions and I noticed this as I grew through my career as I branched out past retail, sales, and events before going out on my own. I notice the similarities while working with women in leadership from all backgrounds as well. However going through it then, I often wondered why that was the case for these talented individuals within his or her field. I found it to be one of the most fascinating leadership topics for me to observe as I grew as a leader and still enjoy talking about it today. So, why do you think someone who may be the best salesperson, event coordinator, engineer, artist, marketer, designer, etc…might not be the best leader for the team? Shouldn’t the best of the best lead the team to greatness?
In my opinion, this is one of the biggest mistakes made in leadership or within the cultivation of leadership of a company. I have seen this exact situation happen many times. You may be thinking of an example right now yourself. For me, it worked out in my favor or you would not be listening to me talking about this right now. I would never have become the youngest store manager for the men’s clothier I worked for back in 2009 (let alone, the youngest woman) had I been the best saleswoman. I admit that my sales were great, but I was not the best salesperson in the company. Therein lies the question, then why did I get the job? I got the “title” of leader because I was leading before the title was given to me. Our leader was absent, and I led without question.
We had a store manager that never showed up on time and never stayed his full shift. I was second in command but no one who entered the store knew that, nor did they know that the third in command (who eventually became my assistant) was in his position either. We operated as though we were already the leaders we knew were and no, it was not fun. We were bitter towards the store manager at times, but we found gratification in the good we were doing for our customers and the team that he and I were building together. And guess what? It paid off. Because, we got the “titles” and sure, more money, but none of that made us leaders. Everything we did before; that’s what made us leaders. That was my first true taste of leadership and I am proud of that still to this day.
That is why I know a title does not mean a thing at all. We did not respect the man we worked for one bit. The employees respected me over him; a twenty-two-year-old woman who was half and triple younger than some of the employees. I did not realize this small step for me would lead me to such a passion, but I am grateful. The lesson for me became a deep one through the years as I have taken a moment to reflect back on when leadership really began for me. In my opinion, I think it begins for everyone when they realize they are the leader of their own life, always.
