Leadership: Find Your Truth In a Sea of Uncertainty

There's a big difference between BEING LEADERSHIP and DOING LEADERSHIP.

DOING LEADERSHIP is based on grit, determination, willpower, certainty, and authority. At its core, BEING LEADERSHIP is creativity, collaboration, objectivity, presence, curiosity, and easy confidence.

DOING LEADERSHIP is exhausting, BEING LEADERSHIP is effortless.

When leaders are able to make the fundamental shift from Doing to Being everything changes.

Being Leaders have adopted a true inner-confidence that sustains them through adversity and it inspires others. 

They're no longer driven by results only, but instead, focus on what they can control--their own performance.  The confidence that they hold doesn't come from past results but from an inner-belief that they can do hard things. 

BEING LEADERS drive the results and don't allow the results to drive them.

Seeing themselves as powerful, they also see the capabilities and power of others .

How we see ourselves as leaders will determine how we see others.  If we are harsh and critical of ourselves than we're likely going to extend that outward to those we lead.

What would be different if you were to truly believe that others are greater, wiser, and more powerful than they appear to be?

This starts with you and how you see yourself.

A Leader must separate what's true from the truth (and most don't)...

Each person brings a unique perspective to every situation.

You view your life's circumstances through a set of filters.  These filters are shaped by your beliefs, values, and life experiences.

So does everyone else.

There are actually 7 filters or perspectives that all of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors run through.  Each one has the power to shape how we show up as a leader.

In my Coaching Programs, we explore these 7 Perspectives of Leadership in greater detail and how they're showing up for you.  This framework is part of the Energy Leadership™ system developed by Bruce D. Schneider.

There are two common perspectives many leaders take when faced with stress and high-stakes pressure.

The first filter takes the perspective of The Victim. 

You might be thinking that's not you...

Let me challenge your thinking for a moment.  Have you ever told yourself things like...?

• This sure isn't my week.
• Could things get any worse?
• Why does this keep happening to me?
• Maybe I'm just fooling myself.
• What will they think if I don't close this deal?
• I'm not sure I could communicate as well as him.
• I'm just not doing enough.

Albeit subtle, these thoughts likely do enter your mind from time to time, especially when things don't go the way you expected them to go. 

The second filter takes the perspective of The Fighter.

You might be thinking, "yep that's me!" "For me to get what I want, I have to fight for myself."

You'd likely take The Fighter over The Victim any day.  But both have very damaging results on your abilities to lead others and create the positive changes you want to see in your business.

The Fighter perspective has a strong need to prove himself/herself to the world.  You're competitive.  Rather than Being YOUR best,  The Fighter wants to prove that he or she is the best.

Leaders, who take this perspective will say things like, "why can't these other guys just do their jobs?"  You might hear them blame their teams for not taking ownership and lacking urgency.

The Fighter is quick to judge and blame others.  They see the world in black and white, good or bad.

Instead of seeing themselves at the cause of life, both The Victim and The Fighter see themselves at the effect.

Leaders seeing through these two lenses create what's true for them and the interpretations they make take them away from the truth.

Any reaction you have is your own self-creation.  Nothing has meaning until you ascribe meaning to it.

You cut yourself off from greater possibilities when you choose certainty over curiosity.

You're unable to see the truth when you're unaware of the interpretations, beliefs, and assumptions guiding your behavior--none of which are based on truth. 

This has profound effects on us psychologically as leaders: 

It seems to me that the [fully functioning] individual moves toward being, knowingly and acceptingly, the process which he inwardly and actually is. . . .He is not trying to be more than he is, with the attendant feelings of insecurity or bombastic defensiveness.  He is not trying to be less than he is, with the attendant feelings of guilt and self-deprecation. He is increasingly listening to the deepest recesses of his physiological and emotional being, and finds himself increasingly willing to be, with greater accuracy and depth, that self which he most truly is.  

- Carl Rogers, On Becoming a Person 

 What Carl Rogers shared is getting to the core difference between DOING LEADERSHIP and BEING LEADERSHIP.

There's something fundamentally flawed with this idea that we must do more to be more as a leader...

This constant feeling of not doing enough or of not being good enough as a leader depletes you of the very thing that makes you a highly effective leader.

That thing is YOU.  

What are the beliefs that you hold that no longer serve you and the leader you desire to be?  

It's been said that what got you here won't get you there.  

How is the belief that for you to be successful you must work 80 hours per week really serving you and at what cost?

In what ways might you be contributing to the lack of ownership on your team?

What would be the benefits of seeing leadership as an adventure--a game that can't be won or lost, only played?

What if you were to trust yourself again? Instead of trying to prove yourself or play small, what if, you played full out as a leader?

What if you were to simply BE more and let the doing naturally flow from a place of authenticity, vulnerability, intuition, and self-confidence?

I'm confident that you can if you're willing to do the work. 

You see...most people say they want to change but all they're really saying is that they want what they think the change will bring them. 

They're unwilling to do the actual work to create the results they desire to see.

That's not you and I know it! 

Go BE YOU today, trust your intuition more, and go play full out, bring the potential of your team alive, and tap into your inner confidence.  Simply know that you're more than capable of doing hard things. 

You're ready...now go play full out!

Your coach,