I’ve started blogging at whyilead.org/blog. It’s a research study for leaders and a community I’m building with one of ING’s Heads of Learning.
The excitement about this project has been really fun, and we have a problem.
What we keep finding is that people who are doing some of the best leadership don’t consider themselves leaders. Other leaders are so busy they don’t have time to reflect. We’re asking folks to answer a few questions and write 250 words or less on why you lead. The one-pager is causing folks who do consider themselves leaders another problem: They’ve never thought about it.
That’s the first reason we started this study. We want today’s leaders to reflect, to appreciate the powerful work they are doing, and to help them focus their energy in a time when so many people are exhausted by the leader’s daily grind.
We also started the study for the next generation. We want to know the core reasons leaders are motivated to do the difficult work our world needs accomplished; why they take on challenges no one else can or will. The next generation of leaders needs to know why today’s leaders have fought so hard, so they can rise up too.
A leader is someone who wants to get things done. They are the person who, even when others won’t, takes responsibility. A leader is a person who sees opportunities and helps a group of people seize them. A leader can lead at work, in her community, and at home. Get your daughter’s girl scout troop to enjoy selling their cookies? You’re a leader. Help your neighborhood stay safe by organizing a watch program? You lead. Make sure that project at work that’s been holding everyone up gets completed (even if you don’t get the credit)? You are a leader.
Go to whyilead.org and tell us “Why?”
