Empower Yourself With the Permission to Lead

At a recent gathering of a regional leadership forum we were challenged over the 2 days with dynamic principles regarding our personal journeys to becoming effective and fulfilled leaders. After a light evening meal on the second day we were turned loose to walk the resort's nature trails with a single question to ponder: What internal battles do leaders face that make it difficult to lead? The point of the query was to get us prepared, open-minded and ready to re-think some of the ways we'd been carrying out our leadership lifestyle.

A short time later every one of us was seated around several of the large fire pits situated in a clearing in the pine woods. I thought it interesting that the speaker chose to stand at a bit of a distance from the fire pits, where most of us couldn't see her, either because our backs were to her or the brightness of the fire in the fire pit diminished our ability to see into the dark. Her goal was to allow our minds to focus on the principles and nothing else while the dancing flames in the fire pits served as visual "white noise" to block out distractions.

The single principle she communicated to us was this: leaders who effectively empower others must first empower themselves. They must give themselves permission to lead. She explained that those with leadership abilities need to use those talents to serve the good of others and of the organization. She asked us to write the word "reluctance" on a piece of paper, crumble it up and toss it into the consuming blaze in the fire pits. She explained that when leadership is viewed as a form of service the leader will have the right attitude and will not be as hesitant to lead.

It isn't that leaders have the authority to tell others what to do. It is that leaders have the responsibility to direct others toward the fulfillment of important individual tasks which lead to positive outcomes for the whole. Leaders lead she said over and over, and I contemplated this simple but important truth as I gazed at the fire pit's glowing embers. Leaders lead just as writers write, designers design and sales people sell. It is their duty and responsibility to the team to lead. Reluctant leaders are non-leaders. Self-empowered leaders who are respectful, encouraging, full of vision and highly competent are effective leaders. We concluded our session around the fire pits by jotting down 3-5 action points that would make help us implement this principle going forward.

In my leadership life this principle has made tough calls easier to make, since someone has to do it and that someone is me! The principle has increased my motivation and I am now a much better motivator too. Take a few moments today to relate this principle to your own leadership lifestyle and you'll likely become a more effective and more fulfilled leader.