Let's talk about leadership.
Dale Carnegie made a career out of spreading knowledge and wisdom on a variety of topics, leadership included. His seminal work How to Win Friends and Influence People became a bestseller, and is well known even today - quite a feat for a work published in the midst of the Great Depression.
It comes, then, as a great reassurance to me (some guy you've possibly never heard of) that Carnegie also owns the following statement:
The ideas I stand for are not mine. I borrowed them from Socrates. I swiped them from Chesterfield. I stole them from Jesus. And I put them in a book. If you don’t like their rules, whose would you use?
Dale Carnegie
Writing about leadership these days is challenging because it's so well-trodden a path. If I had an original thought on leadership, I could never prove it, because doing so would involve reading everything that has ever been written on the subject. That alone would take a lifetime. If Carnegie "stole from Jesus," at least I'll be in good company if I do so as well. Hopefully, He won't mind.
Instead of slowly introducing leadership, I've decided to define the most important leadership concept I know. If I only had one chance to communicate a single idea about the topic - if I could only impart one piece of advice - this would be it:
Great leadership necessitates, first and foremost, embracing the mindset that you, as the leader exist for the benefit and betterment of those whom you are leading.
Before you decide where you are going, before you figure out whom you will lead, you must decide whom it is that will be the focal beneficiary of your leadership. If the answer to that question is yourself, I strongly encourage you not to lead. Put simply: if you're leading only for you, you need to change or stop.
As you might guess, I didn't come up with this idea. I'm stealing (if you can call it that) from Jesus. In a conversation with His own followers, Jesus made this statement:
"You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant..."
Matthew 20:25-26 NIV
Like the guys Jesus was talking to, you have seen what happens when leaders use their leadership for their own devices. History is littered with examples of leaders who sought fortune, fame, or power at the expense of those who followed them - giving nothing in return. As you've perhaps experienced, having a fortune makes you a wealthy leader, not necessarily a great one. Having a large following makes you a popular leader, not necessarily a great one. Being able to easily affect external change makes you a powerful leader, not necessarily a great one.
Great leaders, I would argue, are defined by their ability to, in the midst of fortune, fame, and power, keep their focus on enhancing and actualizing those who follow them. They understand that what they are leading, by its nature, is bigger than they. It can grow larger than the leader's vision, and it should go farther than the leader alone could possibly take it.
I will admit that the principle I've described is only a starting block. We've not ventured into the realms of vision, communication, crisis, or conflict, but the importance of this concept surpasses all of those. Work for the benefit of those following you, and by doing so, begin to become the type of leader you would want to follow.
Notes
- Think there's a more important leadership concept to cover? I'd love to hear about it. Get in touch with me via my Contact Page.