Does stepping into leadership require us to sacrifice the perception of who we are to our followers? If so, how does one achieve this?
This feels like an interesting paradox for my specific journey, but let me give you a little bit more background so we can be on the same page. I believe that the human experience is about growth. It is the one constant that is there throughout our entire lives. At least, when I hear the question, “Why are we here?”, growth is my response. I like to grow, and I like to see others grow and develop as well. Part of attaining growth, and knowledge as a byproduct, is to share it with others and hopefully impact their lives for the better. This is my intrinsic motivation. I am taking this class because I am fueled by growing people/businesses/technology — or maybe I should call it innovation. To me, innovation is just a fancy way of saying ‘growth’. How can we grow or improve businesses to be better? I find myself here and now contemplating the mysteries of leadership because of the pursuit of a graduate certificate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
So, from these interests, I find that I am motivated to use innovation to better the lives of those around me. I am recognizing that I used to find this goal easier. Why? Well, when I started out my journey, I started from nothing. I was working with six people and I could directly see the impact that I was having on their lives with the innovation I brought to the team. As my leadership grew, I expanded to ten and then fifteen. However, it was still easy to maintain. I learned very early that communication is the most important tool for leadership. Directly talking with people and hearing their troubles and them hearing my ideas and seeing what I am planning worked out the best. Now, It feels like every day I have more people that rely on me. At least in terms of my job role’s responsibilities, I am responsible for supporting a team of close to 70 engineers. However, because I expand past my role and find new people that can benefit from what I know, I work pretty frequently with another 50. And then outside of that, I am a subject matter expert for a particular software in my company and could expect to support any of our 600 local employees and about 20 global team members at a moments notice
The obvious answer is that I cannot do things the same way I once did. Communication is way different and far more challenging. I do not see the direct impact of my labor, nor do the people I once supported so intimately see that I am even doing anything to continue making their job easier. From their perspective, I am too far removed from their work and not doing anything. This couldn’t be further from the truth, but I recognize that my general manager could say the same thing. He is also supporting the whole business and working towards growing our business. So why does it feel different to me? Why do I care so much about the people at the bottom and if they know that I put my energy into what I do for them? I find myself questioning why does it even matter if they do know this? Is this just my ego seeking praise for what I am doing? Or was my initial goal to help these people, regardless of if I get the praise for my work.
I continue to convince myself that the latter is most important for me. At the end of the day, I am okay with the sacrifice of being popular if it means that I know I am doing good work for them. However, is this a good leadership move? If these are the people that crown me, shouldn’t I be trying to focus my attention on maintaining my leadership with them?
The other element is that as I continue to do more work and climb the corporate ladder, I am now more visible to my bosses and my upper management. Is it now they who crown me? Technically, I do get more opportunities to expand my reach by appealing to senior management. So shouldn’t I be using the limited time I have for communication in an effort to appeal to my bosses? Ultimately, their support will be what allows me to impact more people.
These days, I recognize that the perception of who I am to the people that I was originally motivated to help has waned. It is a bit of a crisis of sorts because the core of who I was is now challenged. I suppose to some extent this proves that I am still growing, however, it is a hard thing to give up. Is this something that all leaders have to give up? How do the POTUS or celebrities truly deal with all of the negative comments? It is not possible to go and have a conversation with every person that thinks differently or has preconceived notions to convince them of my way of thinking. So do I just give up? How can I reframe my mind to allow me to do this?
Another way to look at it is that leadership tends to be big picture vs. small picture in this scenario. A leader sees the high-level vision and strives for that goal. However, the everyday person sees a smaller picture. They see what is happening in their lives and the struggles they face. They do not care about what could happen in a few years. Their problems exist now. How should a leader balance this? Should they attempt to spend their time getting people on board with their vision? How do they address the small picture but make sure that adequate time is spent chasing those bigger-picture improvements/ goals?
I do apologize for the lengthy post, but I really wanted to go all-in on this question! I want to say that it has been a genuine pleasure sharing a blog page with you all. I have enjoyed reading your thoughts and co-creating this experience with all of you. Next semester will likely be my last two classes at HES for a while, so I hope that I will see you in one of them! If not, keep moving ahead. You all are amazing leaders and I hope that you continue to learn and grow so that you can impact those around you in the same way you did for me!
Comments:
Classmate
Connor, awesome post! I think I need to sit down and think for awhile about your very deep thoughts! I concur that growth, or innovation, is critical as we move through our lives and careers. For me, I started managing and leading people at a young age. I certainly am a different kind of leader now simply from experience but this class and others I have taken at HES have really made me question my own approach.
For me, I think this is growth. In past years, I might have been arrogant enough to think that my approach was absolutely the right one. When in reality, it was probably the worst!
Last year, I read a two book series about leading, taking ownership and the dichotomy of leading. The second book hit me hard as it delved into how to lead and take ultimate ownership all the while letting your followers flourish on their own. I guess that is why the book was called “The Dichotomy of Leadership”!
There were no easy answers and it forced me to think about the fine line leaders have to walk.
It has been a pleasure working with you this semester. I will never forget being able to ask Iron Man a question!
Classmate
Seconding James that this is a profound post. Thank you for it.
Your thoughts are set forth so clearly! When I read ” Is this just my ego seeking praise for what I am doing? Or was my initial goal to help these people, regardless of if I get the praise for my work” I think of Achilles wanting to be recognized by the bosses helped by his excellence, and the manipulation good workers can feel to keep producing in a way that is cost-effective for owners. I don’t think this will happen to you, based on your ability to reflect. Don’t apologize for sharing this insight.
It’s funny that in the second to last paragraph, you mention “the everyday person” whose problems exist now such that mapped company growth is not really on their mind. I like how you handle that as a personal awareness for you, and my post today mentions the same awareness, less articulately.
Connor, you kept our Stan Lee group together and endured a lot of bossing and buffeting to your excellent ideas. You were right about the backgrounds — we should have used them! You showed a good spirit and respect for everyone(like the others did) which was really nice. I encourage you to keep going in whatever you are doing, but also to keep up this management training, because of those skills. And don’t think so much all the time. The best thing you can do is believe in yourself and keep your shoulder to the wheel. Good luck!
