Episode 66: Who is the Leader You Aspire to Be?
Your Vision is Everything!
Bring clarity to your uniqueness in order to create your style and reach your aspirations!
Enjoy!
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(The notes below are only a brief summary of what is discussed in the podcast. Be sure to listen to get all of the goodness! If you would like a full transcription of the episode, please send an email request to: angie@angie-robinson.com. We’d be happy to provide that!)
One of the topics I speak on and do workshops on is answering the question: what kind of leader do you aspire to be? I want to share some of the content from that with you here.
I’ve talked before about how being a leader isn’t about a certain title or role – it’s about behaviors. It’s about how you show up. I know that many organizations consider those who have manager, director, supervisor, VP, etc. title as part of their leadership group. And so – if you are part of that group because of the role you hold – you are probably viewed as a leader. It might be a little confusing when I say it’s about behaviors, not a title. You can be in a manager-type role, be seen as a leader and still not embody the behaviors / characteristics of being a leader. AND you can be in a role, by title or by org structure that is NOT considered to be a manager…or leader….and still show up as a leader based on your behaviors.
As with most things in our lives – being intentional about deciding the type of leader you want to be is important.
For some of you, you might be thinking – “I just am a leader. I was born a leader. I don’t need to decide how I want to be – I just am!'“ And that’s great. I still challenge you to follow along – as when we are intentional about widening our self-awareness view – we usually uncover some gaps, blind spots or areas that we can enhance even more.
Some of you might not even BELIEVE you are leader. I facilitated this workshop with a big group of organizational “leaders” (again – organizationally they are part of the leadership team based on the roles they hold) recently. Afterward, one participant came up to me and said he struggled with this a bit because he actually doesn’t see himself as a leader.
I guess that is step one: ask yourself if you see yourself as a leader. You could use this definition as a reference point: “A person who guides and influences the behavior of the people who follow them.”
What comes up for you when you read that? Do you believe that is you? If the answer is no – I encourage you do to do some further reflection. Here are some questions you could consider:
What does being a leader mean to you? How do you define leader?
Where did that definition come from (was it based on experiences, what others have taught you, what you have seen growing up and/or throughout your work journey)?
Why do you not see yourself as a leader?
What do you believe about yourself that doesn’t align with “leader”?
What would it take for you to see yourself as a leader?
The other thing I want to point out is that there are several ‘leadership styles’ that have been defined out in the leadership world. These styles have their own general characteristics. Some common styles include:
Transformational Leadership
Authoritative Leadership
Transactional Leadership
Participative Leadership
Servant Leadership
I think these styles are helpful from the standpoint that our brains like structure and definition. What I am careful of is putting people into a ‘box’ – saying that you are this particular style or that. We are all different. We come to the table with uniqueness. I believe people possess a combination of several styles. So – although I think the ‘established’ styles in the leadership world can be helpful - I like for people to create their vision of their own unique style first – versus the other way around.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
When answering the question “What kind of leader do I aspire to be?” – start by thinking about this:
Who, in your eyes – is a ‘good’ leader? Why do you choose that person? What are the behaviors and characteristics of this person?
Your brain might immediately go to someone along your career path who was a leader for you or leaders who are well known in the world, or even fictional movie or TV characters.
Who in your eyes is not a good leader? Why? What are the behaviors and characteristics of this person?
Notice and write down what words you used to describe both the ‘good’ leader and the ‘not-so-good’ leader. This will start to reveal what characteristics are important to you and which you might want to avoid or at least watch out for.
You can also ask yourself these questions:
What is the most challenging part of leadership and why?
What is the most rewarding part of leadership and why?
Again – this can reveal things that you are already good at AND things that either you don’t enjoy OR you are not comfortable with. This doesn’t mean that you don’t include those challenging parts in your aspirations – this just gives you good data. It could be viewed as acknowledgement of an area you would like to improve on – you ASPIRE to be a leader who can handle those challenging things.
Now you have some data. This data is telling you what you characteristics that you might put in the bucket of ‘who I want to be’ and ‘who I don’t want to be’ AND ‘who I want to be but need to do some work.’
We are going to add one more layer onto this. We are going to think about you as your future leader self.
This creates an opportunity to think beyond your current, present self. It really folds in that aspiration piece. It stretches you to think about who you want to be vs. deciding who you are based on your past and current self.
Pick a timeframe in the future. You decide what feels right for you. Is it one year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now?
Next, describe in detail that future leader self. I suggest going beyond just bullet points, but rather writing a description in first person (“I am”).
Here are some prompts to get you started:
What’s different about you in the future?
Where do you live?
Where do you work?
Who are you leading?
How are you showing up?
What kinds of conversations are you having?
Who are you influencing and how?
What words and phrases are others using when they describe you?
How much money are you making?
If it helps, look at someone that you admire and model that aspirational view based on those characteristics. But, be careful with that. You can never be another person – and you don’t want to. Being yourself is where the magic is.
Having gone through these exercises should give you a good picture of the leader you aspire to be.
How can you become that person now?
What behaviors can you embody?
What beliefs can you start believing?
When you show up tomorrow – what does this future version of you as that leader advise you to do differently than today?
Of course – there is much more self-awareness and growth work that is involved once you are clear on the leader you aspire to be. But in this post - it’s about getting clear on who that is so you know what you are working toward.
What do you think?
Are you clear on the leader you aspire to be?
Links
Episode 3: The Fundamentals of Leadership
Episode 15: The Future You
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