Leading is lonely.
Not lonely bad but lonely alone.
Understanding that this aloneness is liberating and energising and empowering is the place where leadership journeys really begin.
Why?
Because knowing that you don’t need others for success and that your brain and your intuition and your own ideas and problem-solving abilities are what you need to create and implement your plans so you can prosper and find autonomy is a crucial step on the learning ladder for a leader.
Accepting that ‘if it’s going to be, it’s up to me,’ is calming and it helps you sleep better.
It also makes you less anxious and ultimately it grants you control and freedom.
Knowing the solution is within and not inside someone else makes everything so much easier for a boss.
Passion, energy and enthusiasm are parts of a person’s brilliance
and they are free and come from within. They are what attracts people to a leader.
Operating with a calm core should always be your focus as a boss and less people in the decision mix is always better than more people when it comes to making decisions.
Consult sure but you must in the end decide.
To not decide is to decide.
Head
Heart
Gut
The answers to most challenges for a leader are parked in one of these 3 spaces inside of us and for me a long walk with a conundrum as my walking partner usually produces a solution from one of these 3 powerful resources. If the answer doesn’t reveal itself take another stroll.
Get good with being alone because it is not the enemy – it’s your friend.
By the way….
What do your team really need from you as a boss?
They need you to care for them and be consistent with them and they need you to have ears for them often and they need you to make decisions.
Chris Hanley – the chairman of the Rise Initiative and head of First National Byron – reflects on how to turn the loneliness of leading into a strength.