she will rise.

Leadership. It’s something as intangible as attraction or motivation, but as intrinsic to our daily needs as breathing. I’ve always been somewhat of a free spirit. When I began my education journey it was not necessarily with a specific destination in mind. I simply worked as opportunities became available and subsequently pursued my education in business, based on necessity. As experience and expertise began to mount in my career, so did something else. It crept in like a slow current but ended up being a constant within each role. It’s something that I wasn’t aware of, that my people-centric managers spotted first…as opportunities unfolded, that current became a riptide – obvious, unavoidable, and it swept me to where I was destined to go. I was a leader.

What is a leader?

Now, I’m not some mogul or CEO of a Fortune 100, and even objectively, I’m not a heavy hitter in my industry. Being in the c-suite or working for a large company is not the only way to exercise leadership. I am a leader in my area of professional experience, and I’ve learned is that there are aspects of leadership that can be applied in every level and area of business. From my experience, the single, most important thing to understand about leadership, is simply this: Business is people. You must understand and value the human element of business if you are to lead people.

There must be a buy-in. Why should people listen to you or trust you? Where do you even begin? I came across an article some time ago that resonated with me and my particular leadership style. In the article, The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around the World (hbr.org), the author points out some…rather “human” aspects of leadership and I’ve chosen three to whet our leadership appetite. Shall we dive in?

From the authors perspective, the first element of leadership is that an effective leader “demonstrates strong ethics and provides a sense of safety.” Now, let’s open a bag of pretzels and think back to the time when our psych classes were fresh and fun. We all remember Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. I don’t believe that it is a coincidence that the first point is simply to make your team feel safe and that they have an ethical authority figure on which they can rely. Safety doesn’t mean that you have all the answers. Safety, hand-in-hand with ethics, means that even if you don’t have the answers, your team can trust that you value them enough to not mislead them. Safety means that you will be clear, set achievable expectations, and that you have their best interests at heart.

Ok – side note: there are many opportunities to deep dive into this article and the topics that it provides, but for the sake of brevity, I want to touch on the points the author makes to begin your own internal dialogue. I simply want this to post to pique your interest, you know…to stir your appetite (another pretzel perhaps?) so, we will keep moving to the next point.

An effective leader “empowers others to self-organize.” Can I get an AMEN? We’ve all heard the adage that people don’t leave companies, they leave managers. Poor managers, micro-managers, toxic managers – what do these managers all have in common? They don’t trust their team enough to provide a sense of supported autonomy. In my experience, the most effective managers I’ve had have handed over the reins to allow me to surge ahead but knew that I could hand them back over whenever necessary. That is empowerment. A leader is a coach. A leader allows their team to flex and show that they know their work, often better than their managers do. What a leader is there for is feedback, dialogue regarding improvement, and support.

The last point in the article I’d like to touch on is that an effective leader “nurtures growth.” I’ll admit it, this is the fun one. This is the one that gives me the warm fuzzies and that makes me excited about managing. This is perhaps the most human point the author makes. As a true leader, I don’t just want to succeed. My success is watching you succeed. This is what sets good leaders apart from great leaders. Good leaders possess all the checkpoints to propel their departments or segments ahead, but great leaders want to watch their people grow. A great leader nurtures growth by imparting as much knowledge as they possess, but they also cultivate individual confidence. Do you remember being a kid and being afraid to do anything the first time? Hopefully you had a teacher or a parent that helped to push you passed your fear to make a move. That’s what good leadership is.

I’ve had a few teams in my career – really great teams. I’ve also had challenging teams. As their leader, I’ve told each member of each team the same thing: To me, my success is watching you grow out of my department. I can’t wait to watch you succeed. Tell me what I can do to help you achieve your potential. Let me guide you, empower you, and nurture your skills.

Sometimes that’s met with excitement, sometimes it’s met with intrigue, and sometimes it’s just met with a confused blank stare. But I see you. I see that there is potential, and we are going to uncover it as long as you’re willing. It’s a joint effort. Now let’s put down our pretzels and connect…on a human level.

-SF

References
The Most Important Leadership Competencies, According to Leaders Around the World (hbr.org)

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My name is Sarah, and I’m a skydiver. Well, I’ve done it once, but once is all it takes to stake that claim. Skydiving connects our most primal and instinctual drive to…well, stay alive, with our equally visceral, and distinctly human drive to explore and to transcend. I remember, with vivid clarity, climbing onto the tiny four-seater plane and holding onto the feeble seatbelt with clenched white knuckles. The deafening hum of the engine helped to conceal the sound of my voice as I muttered a few lines of a prayer to someone, who seemingly felt closer with each mile of elevation. The air around me felt eerily cooler as we continued to climb.

Is this really a good idea?

I imagined what my obituary would look like, the news stories, the relatives mumbling about what a waste it was…

What if something goes wrong? What if something fails?

Suddenly, with a nod from the pilot, it was time. It was time to stand up and step to the platform.

How can I get out of this? Can I get out of this?

Like Libra’s scale, the hefty weight of every decision that I had made up to that point landed with each timid footstep towards that twenty-four-inch platform that hovered 15,000 feet in space. Whether I had done it all wrong or all right, didn’t matter at that moment. What mattered was that I was about to take a step into an unknown. Would it be bliss? Would it be a chaotic plunge to the end? I was about to freefall and there was no comfort in the unknown.

We’ve all found ourselves there at some point in our lives. Sometimes we find ourselves there often. We’re standing at a decision point, at a journey’s turn, at a fork in the road, and we need to make a decision. We simply need to step onto the platform.

Do you have a goal? I’ve had many, however, life circumstances have guided my decisions from relationships to career choices. I’ve found that I’ve failed both many times over. When I was a child, I wanted to be a meteorologist. I would watch The Weather Channel and take notes about cold fronts and low-pressure systems, while my friends watched cartoons. Yes, I was “that” kid.

I also wanted to be a rockstar. I picked up the guitar at 14 and never put it down. I’ve learned about 8 chords. Yes, the rockstar meteorologist. My childhood had its unique challenges, and ultimately, I ended up marrying young and divorcing young. I had daughters. My career choices were brought by necessity as opposed to preference, and here I am, living in an eccentrically charming town in Pennsylvania and working in finance. And quite honestly, I’ve learned to love it, the way the partners in an arranged marriage grow to have an affinity towards each other. It’s not a romantic or glamorous story, but I feel like there’s some success in being a woman, a mother, in mid-level management at a small bank in a small town driving a Subaru to work every morning. Right? Maybe. But to me, there’s a larger goal. My goal in my life, as well as my career, is to learn to honor the flight, you know, the ascent. I want to honor the fear, the chaos, the unknown, and be willing to see what is waiting after the jump when I open my eyes.

I’m hoping that through my words, we can talk about those moments before we have to step onto the platform. I’ve stood on a lot of platforms, and through a few successes and a lot of failures, I’ve learned some things that I’d like to share with you because maybe you’re about to step up to your own platform.

The freefall was ethereal. The momentum stirred my brain so violently that I thought I was going to faint. I couldn’t make out a landscape, all I saw were colors. Green of trees, blue of sky, brown of earth, all moving closer as I tumbled towards them. It was like a dream. I only heard the rush of the air and didn’t have time to feel fear. Then at once, all according to the plan, I pulled the line and the parachute opened. It all became clear. I could make out hills and buildings and cars. Clarity came back and the journey felt different. I was able to be present, and then…I landed.

Right now, regardless of where you are, take some time to honor your flight. Listen to the questions that the universe is begging of you. Maybe it will go according to plan, but perhaps it won’t. Honor the ascent. Sometimes the lesson comes from the freefall, but most times it comes from the rise.

-SF