Leadership & Power

Leadership comes with power. As a leader how you use this power that has been bestowed upon you determines the type of leader you are.

The reality, there are many of us who never want to have a title of leadership. Leaders are tasked to make the most difficult decisions, are looked up to for guidance and knowledge and be the shield of many in difficult times. Being a leader, having the ability to be a leader, is a task one should never take lightly. Our culture, for so long, has made us believe that to be a leader we must be in a position of power. And we equate power to leadership. But do you need to be in position of power to be a leader? And as a leader what does "power" really look like?

"A genuine leaders is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus."

Martin Luther King Jr.

As Martin Luther King Jr said, a genuine leader is a molder of consensus. As I read this quote I see two types of leadership, egocentric and community focused. As an egocentric leader, you are searching for consensus, very possibly to your own beliefs, ideals and desires. You are building your leadership around finding those who are similar to you. You are potentially using your power for your own benefit, to secure your agenda. Your loyalty is to yourself. If you are a community focused leader, you have your own beliefs and desires but you recognize that not everyone is the same. That others may feel as you do, but more than likely there are groups of people who see things differently. You foster these differences and seek out and surround yourself with experts, uniqueness, variety. You are bringing the community together to shape consensus.

You don't have to be in a leadership position to be a leader. You don't have to be an extrovert to be a leader. What you need to be a leader are behaviors like:

Courage - the bravery to do the right thing. To have Integrity.

Humility - the ability to recognize you don't have all the answers, you aren't doing things on your own and that it takes all of us to accomplish great things.

Accountability - the ability to admit when you are wrong, when you have made a mistake. Recognizing there is a lesson in failure and wrong doing.

Diversity - the ability to be open-minded and surrounding yourself with others that are not like you in thought, in appearance, in behavior, in weirdness....find all your opposites and attract them.

Loyalty - the ability to protect those that have helped to rise you up. To protect those that need protection. To provide for those in need.

Sincerity - be real, be authentic. Don't be fake.

Kindness - nobody likes an asshole!

These behaviors, are behaviors of a genuine leader.

The power of a leader comes from behavior. Power is not to be used to control, it is used to influence. Power is not knowing it all, it is trusting others. Power is not being a bully, it is empowering others. Power is not an entitlement, it is a privilege. Power is not abuse, it is a freedom.

If you are a leader, you have a responsibility, not a power. As such, you are obligated to hold yourself accountable. Be reflective, check yourself. If you are out of alignment, own it and correct it. When someone calls you out on it, listen. Be a leader!