Leadership Is Responsibility

 

All the effective leaders I have encountered – both those I worked with and those I merely watched – knew four simple things: a leader is someone who has followers; popularity is not leadership, results are; leaders are highly visible, they set examples; leadership is not rank, privilege, titles, or money, it is responsibility. Effective leaders delegate, but they do not delegate the one thing that will set the standards. They do it.

 

Point: Don’t expect to retain the respect of your employees if you completely delegate the central function of your enterprise, whether it is healing patients or selling bonds.

 

Today’s MMM was taken entirely from the thoughts of Peter Drucker in the book, “The Leader of the Future”.

Beware of the pedestal…

In life we tend to put certain people up on pedestals.  We set those apart that we admire or idolize.  We hold them up, often to a higher standard or a loftier set of expectations.  I suppose it is human nature regarding people that make positive impressions on our lives and that can be dangerous.  Not everyone who positively influences our lives deserves such elevation.  Not everyone in positions of authority or popularity, deserve such special treatment.  In fact, most do not.  The risk is that when those people show us their weakness, or even their simply human side, we are devastated.  We find ourselves let down and disappointed.  Therein lies the risk of the pedestal.  We set ourselves up for disappointment when we place people on pedestals.  Most of the time people end up falling from their perch, often very hard.  There is nothing wrong with admiring people.  There is nothing wrong with emulating certain aspects of a persons’ character.  Just know that nobody is perfect.  Everyone is human, and as such, has flaws. Beware of the pedestal.