Your Choice – Window or Mirror
BY: Chris Pace
Hello Professionals!
I have a favor to ask of each of you…READ THIS SHORT ARTICLE. It’s worth the read and I promise it won’t take you any more than 7 minutes of your time.
A recurring theme in my life over the past few years has been self-reflection and this article really hits home on what it means to self-reflect… especially through the leadership lens.
If you are reading this article chances are you are in charge of leading people… and that’s no simple task. It often means going beyond the call of duty and doing more for others than they’ll ever know and or recognize you for. While that may appear to be a thankless task, the truth of the matter, in my opinion, is that it should be thankless – that’s what makes the role so genuinely fulfilling. Like anonymously donating to a charitable campaign, giving spare change to someone in need or raising your children to be productive adults. The fulfillment comes in knowing you did the right thing because it was the right thing to do and it made a difference in someone’s life.
The true power in leadership is taking full accountability for actions that occur within your enterprise. Be constantly seeking to empower your people to continue to fail forward, be courageous, and certainly supporting them when celebrating their big wins. There will always be external factors that threaten your people and business… those are the things you view outside the window. And it’s tempting to blame those things for your struggles and failures. Conversely, it’s tempting to step in front of the mirror when things go your way and say, “I did that!”
But what if you were to flip that script and stand in front of the window when celebrating success and the mirror when addressing failures?
What might that approach teach you about yourself, your organization, and ultimately… your future?
It’s not easy leading people and it’s even tougher to accept that our own actions may have led to our peoples’ struggles. But if we’re able to take stock of our actions and correct our course, not only do we demonstrate our humility and build buy-in with our teams… we also model what it means to persevere and triumph over adversity. And isn’t that what we want our teams to do every day? To make just another call, close another sale, or make one more solid connection in pursuit of building their business despite the daily challenges when doing so.
Thank you for taking the time to read the article and considering the valuable message it contains.
And for those of you looking for the Cliff’s Notes…. J
A few high points from the article:
– Great leaders take accountability for failures as well as successes
– Great leaders are not afraid to be human
– Great leaders are strong enough to be vulnerable
“Effective leaders don’t say ‘I.’ They don’t think ‘I.’ They think ‘we’; they think ‘team.’ They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility, but ‘we’ gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done.” Peter F. Drucker
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