Almost anyone who has read a detective story or watched any television program knows the power of fingerprints.
Fingerprints are powerful and reliable clues because of two primary qualities.
Our fingerprints are unique.
Each person has a different set of fingerprints. Even identical twins can be distinguished through their fingerprints.
We leave fingerprints inadvertently.
We leave our fingerprints on whatever we touch. They are recovered more easily and clearly on some surfaces than others, but we always leave them.
We each have our own fingerprints, and we leave them without thinking about it. When we try to change them or avoid leaving them, our behavior becomes very noticeable.
Fingerprints are like leadership.
Each of us becomes a leader and leads in unique ways. We may try to model ourselves after someone else, or learn from other people, but each of us is an individual.
Our leadership grows out of who we are. We may gain new insights or learn lessons from experience with other people. Our leadership comes from ourselves.
My leadership is recognizable. It may not meet the burden of proof in a courtroom, but people can tell when I am a leader. My leadership reflects me; your leadership reflects you.
We work hard to develop leadership skills. We read books, go to conferences and seminars, study leadership. We try to be very intentional about how we lead.
The fact is that we leave our leadership fingerprints inadvertently. Whenever we touch an opportunity, we put our mark on it.
People do not need sophisticated equipment or technical expertise to discover the fingerprints of our leadership. Even when we might try to conceal our intentions or avoid detection, the evidence is there.
What is the unique pattern of your leadership?
Where have you left the fingerprints of your leadership today?
[Image by Kevin Dooley]
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