This morning, I woke up thinking about the blog and this week’s theme of choosing the type of leader you will become. As I was thinking more about it – there are two aspects of you as a leader. There is the part of you that you need to discover and the part of you that you, simply, need to choose.
Self-discovery and self awareness wraps around concepts such as talents, competencies, personality / temperament, perspectives (the Sun Glass principle) , etc. This arena would be where we might perform a personal SWOT analysis and a Leader Brand session.
The second area, though, is less about discovery than it is about decision. What type of a leader will you become? If you’re like me, you’ve had some great examples of leadership in your life and some tragic examples. Some leaders have even been both a different times, right?
For ‘Iditarod Leadership’, there are a number of different troubled musher types in the Race. Let’s just look at a few today:
· Lead Dog Leader: Ones who do it all themselves
· Empty Sled Leader: Disconnected and absent
· Caesar Leader: Ceremonial / Glory-based Leader
· Rope & Harness Leader: Micro-Managers
· Whip & Reigns Leader: “Beat the Dogs” Leader
My recommendation is to decide today to become an Iditarod Leader, an authentic leader.
Iditarod Leaders are concerned with results and relationships, short-term and long-term, hands-on and empowering and above all – great communicators.
Can you picture examples of the other leaders? Have you ever worked for a leader that had more than one these personalities?
Today’s decision to choose the type of leader you will become leads to the behaviors, actions, and habits of tomorrow. As we talked about yesterday – these will, ultimately, define you as a leader.
Have a great day on the trail!
