WHAT IS A LEADER?
If you’re here reading the Champions 101 Newsletter today, then I’m gonna make a few assumptions about who you are and what you value. Your presence here makes the think you are a high achiever - or at least that you want to be - in some important area of life and performance. I’m confident that you see yourself as a work in progress, and that you’re willing to do whatever you can, including reading along here today, in order to keep getting better.
If those things are true, then I’d say it’s also safe to assume that you are the kind of person who sees yourself as a leader, or who others have given that title to, or both. People like you often willingly step into that role - despite the challenges that come with it - mainly because they really want to win, and because they recognize that their influence can play an important role in making it happen.
Despite that willingness, though, it can be hard sometimes to define what exactly a leader is. There are a million different definitions out there, which probably highlights the complicated nature of the work that accompanies the title. I like a lot of those definitions, but my favorite one comes from the author and researcher Brene Brown. She defines a leader as “anyone who takes responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and has the courage to develop that potential.” I love that definition because it highlights three non-negotiables for anyone who sees themselves a leader, including you and I here today…
1. Responsibility. A leader is anyone who takes ownership of the part they recognize they can play in helping something or someone get better. Being a leader is not about your age, your title, or your position of authority. It’s about accepting that what you choose to do today matters - not only to your own performance, but to the performance of the people around you, too. Leaders take more than their share of the responsibility.
2. Potential. Leaders have developed the ability to see clearly the sometimes harsh reality of what is, and at the same time see clearly the exciting possibility of what could be. Finding potential requires two critical leadership components - vision and belief. A clear vision allows you to see what this thing you’re building is capable of becoming, and a strong belief fortifies the conviction that with a lot of hard work, you can in fact turn that vision into reality. What you’re after doesn’t exist yet. That’s why it’s called potential. Vision and belief are critical in turning what could be into what actually is.
3. Courage. I love Brene Brown’s definition of leadership because it’s one of the only ones I’ve seen that contains what I believe is the most essential leadership ingredient. The truth is, choosing to lead is scary. It requires you to do things differently, to stand out from the crowd, and to put yourself out there in a way that brings with it a substantial amount of risk. In each of those ways, leading has a lot in common with winning, and it’s really hard to do either at a high level without some serious courage.
Accept the responsibility. See the potential. Cultivate the courage. That’s a great formula for winning leadership in any important area of life, and that’s why I love Brene Brown’s answer to that question, “what is a leader?” Today’s a good day to evaluate how effectively you take responsibility for finding the potential in people and processes, and whether you’ve built the courage it takes to develop that potential. That’s what leading is all about, and it’s very likely what winning requires you to do.
