In the Service of Others

It may come as a surprise of many, leadership and management is a service of others. I say that, because most people think that when they become a leader or a manager they have people to boss around and to hover over as some sort of dictator. Strong words but bear with me.

Chances are all of you have started as an employee or ‘worker bee’, and even if you think you never had a formal boss, remember, the customer is your boss.  Put yourself back in your employee shoes, and think about your old bosses.  In which circumstances did you excel, did you feel empowered, and were you have a good time?  Now flip it, in which did you feel suppressed, lacked motivation, or ended up quitting and starting over somewhere fresh?

In those situations, who was your boss and how was that relationship?

In the positive situations, you probably had a positive environment, positive people around you, and a positive leader.  While in the negative situations… well you get it.  Going back to the positive situations, when you really think about it, everyone was helping each other.  Management was helpful and informative, leaders taught and offered solutions, and your co-workers chipped in when needed.

Leadership is helping others, it is for the service of others.  Management is no longer about bossing people around, telling them what to do, and sitting in your corner office with all the accolades because… that is negative.

If you feel this way, you are not alone.  Some of you may feel alone, I’ve been there, but you are not.  There is a growing movement toward service of others.  This is a good thing, it's a great thing, just remember how you felt when everyone helps each other.  We do a lot more as a group, as a team, than we can do alone.

Growing as a leader it's your job to help the team and get people to work together and help one another.