It’s time to be honest. Leadership is a lifetime commitment.
Promising leaders are often put on high stands by people. Leaders need to get off that pedestal and stay with the people to stay real and grounded. They do that by being honest and authentic.
If you are a leader, your goal is to be real and lift your people, not have them lift you. If you allow others to put you on a pedestal or if you minimize your faults and accentuate your successes, you create what they call the Success Gap. That’s a perceived distance between successful people and less successful people.
Inauthentic people enjoy that gap, protect their image, try to stay above the crowd, and make the gap look even more significant.
In contrast, authentic leaders work hard to close that gap. How?
They are open about their failures and shortcomings. They use self-deprecating humor and laugh at themselves.
When asked to speak, they prefer simple introductions, and they walk among the people and connect with them before and after their time onstage. They do everything they can to be themselves without pretense.
I never want to become a leader so full of myself that I cannot fulfill my purpose. Leaders who do that become unstable. That’s why I check myself to make sure that I remain grounded. I can keep my feet on the ground if I maintain humility, display authenticity, and stay true to my calling.
What type of leader are you?