Beyond You Leadership
I love being a leader. It’s something I’ve worked very hard to achieve and here’s my secret: I work even harder to maintain my position as a company’s leader.
Anyone who knows me or who regularly follows this blog, knows that I passionately pursue opportunities to stretch my boundaries and become a better leader. Why am I so motivated to become a better leader? Why do I travel around the globe seeking the advice of some of the most innovative company culture mavens? I do it because I know that it isn’t about me; it’s about those I lead.
There’s no shortage of materials to help you become a better leader. Each leader will have a style or author whose techniques resonate with them and that’s great. When I seek innovative and inspiring leadership development, one of my favorite places to turn to is Leadercast.
Leadercast is an organization that helps leaders reach their potential. Recently, the group held their flagship event, Leadership Live on May 9 in Atlanta. The event was broadcasted to more than 700 locations around the world and featured incredible speakers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Simon Sinek among others.
I’ve attended Leadercast Live in previous years but was really drawn to this year’s theme – Beyond You Leadership.
Beyond You Leadership is when a leader fearlessly and selflessly empowers leaders around them as well as future leaders. It’s a “givers-game” mentality that has no direct benefits for yourself, only those around you.
Andy Stanley is a senior pastor in Atlanta who opened this year’s Leadercast Live event. I feel he perfectly summed up Beyond You Leadership with a couple of simple yet profound words.
“The value of a life is always measured by how much is given away,” he said.
I have always found that the more I do for others, the more I’m able to grow. The term, “leadership” itself implies that you are guiding others; after all, you can’t have leaders without followers. You can’t do it for yourself and hope everyone follows, you have to leverage who you are as a leader and when you are finally able to make it not about you, then you will succeed.
Here’s my favorite strategies recommended at Leadercast Live 2014 for becoming a Beyond You Leader.
- Make as few decisions as possible: Empower your team to make decisions, trust that they will make the best decisions for your business and guide them to become the leaders you know they are capable of being. Try saying this – “You decide!”
- Work for your team: Too often I’m asked what others can do for me. As a Beyond You Leader, you must ask what you can do to help your team. It’s not about me, it’s about us.
- Empty Your Cup: You’re smarter than you think and you need to leverage what you know and pour everything you have into your team. Fill their cup with your knowledge!
Whenever I come back from an event such as Leadercast Live I am bursting at the seams with ideas I can’t wait to try out.
One exercise that I’m really excited to implement is an Open Forum Breakfast here at Roma Moulding. I envision a dedicated space where anybody and everybody can come and share ideas, speak to their leaders and team members about what they are working on and to ask for help.
What will I get out the exercise? That’s the wrong question. We need to ask what will the team get out of the exercise!
For me, my goal is to help our team achieve progress and hit their craziest goals!