Leadership Lesson 5: Leadership is Not About You

We have all heard about (and possibly worked with) a great individual contributor who flailed after being promoted to management.

I have personally observed many hard working, highly intelligent c-suite leaders suddenly engage in self-aggrandizing, accountability-avoiding, and credit-stealing behaviors upon being promoted.

How do we avoid those outcomes and make the transition to leadership gracefully?

We do our best to remember this: true leaders empower others and unleash the full potential of those they lead.

• Task-oriented professionals achieve success through driving outcomes with individual work

• Leaders achieve success through motivating, supporting, teaching, removing barriers, empowering, and ensuring employees have the resources they need

As I mentioned earlier, I had no understanding of the corporate world when I first joined the work force. I also had no idea what roles I would be good at or enjoy. As a result, I’ve (proudly? sheepishly?) restarted my career five times. Based on my experience, I can attest that what Simon Sinek says is correct: seemingly backwards moves—like starting an entry-level role in a new industry—often have the potential to make you happier and more successful in the long run. And, as a bonus, I now have range—having learned from different industries, companies, supervisors, and roles.

In one of my transitions, I took my usual 40% pay cut to move to an entry-level job in a new industry that I thought I could do in my sleep. I believe my exact words to my husband were “a trained monkey could do this job.” What I didn’t realize is that my supervisor was a ninja leader who had perfected the art of motivating, supporting, removing barriers, and ensuring I had the resources I needed. He took every opportunity he could to highlight my progress to his peers and to encourage me. He gave me increasingly difficult projects and assignments that I wasn’t qualified to do, but that I really enjoyed figuring out. And, when I needed resources, he found a way to get them for me.

Had my supervisor advertised my work or solutions as his own, micromanaged me instead of supporting and empowering me, or ignored my request for resources, I wouldn’t have been nearly as effective, hard working, or successful in driving results for the organization.

My success became his success, but only because he didn’t make his leadership (or management) over me about him.