Leadership Is Serving Others
By Intrigue
Do you ever have moments where you realize you’re missing the most important thing? Maybe you’ve been focusing on the trees while missing the forest.
There are a million ways that you can define leadership. I love John Maxwell’s definition because I think it is the simplest: “Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.”
If leadership is influence, the question “How do I lead?” really becomes “How can I grow at influencing the people I want to influence?”
Immediately, the word trust comes to mind, and the question “How do I gain trust?” Anyone who has read books on leadership will know the answer to this question: Serve others.
It’s so simple. Serve others, and you will win their hearts and gain their trust — yet, this is the hardest thing to do.
Servanthood isn’t glamorous. Servanthood is tough. It takes time. It means first allowing, then enduring, and then ideally embracing interruptions. It is becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable. It means doing the thing no one else wants to do. It means really wanting the best for others before yourself. It means truly valuing the people you wish to lead and embracing them in their imperfect humanity. It means letting others win.
I realized that spending my time on the thing I have prioritized highest in my to-do list isn’t my top priority now. If I want to be a leader at Intrigue, that I need to be focused on doing whatever is most valuable for our team and our clients.
It took me quite a while to realize this, and I share this personal experience with the hopes of challenging you to examine your life.
If any of these terms apply to you, then you are likely in a place where you need to lead:
- Boss
- Owner
- Manager
- Senior (insert role)
- VP
- CXO
- Mom
- Dad
- Sister
- Brother
- Friend
- Teacher
- Elder
- Pastor
- Trainer
- Coach
Whether you aspire to lead, or find yourself in a place where you have no other choice but to lead, serve others.
If you want to be a leader, servanthood is a tough path, but I believe it is the only path worth taking. This is the path that will lead you to accomplishing what you want to accomplish.
Takeaway: Where am I prioritizing my to-do list over the priorities of the people I lead?
Business owners and leaders often find themselves busy spending their time on marketing instead of working on, and in, their business. At Intrigue, we help business owners with their marketing so they can free up time to better serve their team and clients — to lead. Learn more about how we help our clients.
