I know people in positions of responsibility who think leadership is kind of a pain.
We look at people who move up the organizational ladder and think, “There is no way I am doing that.” We see leaders putting in long hours of hard work. Leaders appear to sacrifice their time with their own families, time to reflect, time to relax.
So many leaders work on addressing conflict in their organizations, but conflict never ends. We see leaders making decisions that seem to please no one.
Some leaders get paid a little more, but they are never really able to enjoy it. More and more, we see leadership as a thankless task without reward.
Why would anyone want to become a leader?
Some of us think people who want to be leaders have ego problems. Some of them do. We think that people who want to lead have a thing about power. They may enjoy telling people what to do.
The leaders who inspire me are not primarily rewarded with expensive cars or big houses. Their leadership rewards have little to do with more money, more power, more status.
The leaders I respect value the rewards that come with developing other people’s leadership. They draw out the best in the people around them, giving them opportunities to know themselves. As they lead, each person with whom they work can begin to recognize their own possibilities.
As leaders strengthen the leadership in the people around them, their own leadership deepens.
Leadership does not mean pushing people up a ladder while giving them more ways to fall down it. Leadership is not paying people to sacrifice their own lives.
Real leadership rewards leadership in the people all around you.
What leadership rewards do you value?
Who does your leadership reward?
[Image by dreamsjung]
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