Growing up in the shadow of The Colonel, with all his commendations and advanced degrees, it was understood that I would or should be an achiever. You can imagine my confusion when Dad told me that achievement is not necessarily leadership. He said, “An achiever wants to see themselves rise to the top. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not leadership. A leader wants to see those around them rise.”
You see, I thought I needed to be more, do more, and be at the top of every pile I was thrust into. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but as I was struggling to lead a Mary Kay unit that was not achieving as much as I was (or as much as I thought they should), The Colonel said, “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to achieve great things yourself, but it’s not leadership. A leader helps others grow first.”
The way I saw it, if my team was not achieving its full potential, then I needed to achieve more. I needed to lead by example and show them how it’s done. I thought that if they could see me achieving, they would know how to do it themselves and be eager to emulate it. Dad encouraged me to shift my focus away from my own achievements and onto helping them grow and achieve. I needed to work with them to support and teach them how, rather than assuming that by watching my accomplishments, they would “see” how to achieve. Most of the time, leadership requires walking, not in front of but beside our team, gently supporting and guiding as they grow.
Read Lauren’s Whitepaper on The Nine Essentials of Significant Leadership.
