ELEPHANT ALERT!
Do you inspire people? Do people like being around you? Do you influence the effectiveness of others – for the greater good – when you’re in the room?
These are questions aspiring leaders should ask themselves. The answers tell us a lot.
Here’s the elephant in the office: There are some people who don’t care what people think of them. “Screw ’em,” they say. “What you see is what you get. I’m not going to change me. Deal with it.” (Is this a form of laziness? Denial? Insecurity?)
This, of course, leaves everyone else dealing with what they get: breakdowns in communication, poor relationships, and ugly results.
STOMP THE ELEPHANT
Autonomy, the ability to determine your own value, is a strong characteristic of influential leaders. It also has a dark side: when we disregard the feedback we receive from others and no longer work to improve who we are.
We just worked with a team in Medellin, Colombia. The top 30 leaders of this already-successful organization are determined to take their company to new highs. And here’s one reason why we’re betting they’ll succeed: they’re dedicated to functioning in a way where those they lead say, “I want to be like you.”
Their secret to achieving this is simple: in every interaction with others they focus on building stronger relationships.
At the end of the day what do people say about you? Are you functioning in a way that inspires people to emulate you or are you a model that leaves people muttering, “I’m learning a lot from him: everything I don’t want to do when I’m in his position”?
This end-of-the-day test has a bonus section: who do your children wish they could be like?
Where will you lead – where will you stomp elephants – today?
