I’m going to Iowa next week to attend a conference, the subject of which is "Becoming an Effective Leader."
Don’t fret, dear reader, I won’t abandon you.
But it does occur to me as I think about the people who have made great leaders over the years that few of them ever attended a conference on the subject and many didn’t even pass through Iowa.
It’s hard to define what makes one a leader but, like the famous Supreme Court definition of obscenity, I know it when I see it.
It’s some combination of confidence, competence and charisma that add up to a willingness to follow.
It’s said that leaders are born, not made, but that’s not completely true. Some leaders are made, some are even self-made.
I know that because I’m one of them, and I have yet to step foot in Iowa.
The impetus came from those single nights when a group of us would get together to go out.
Ah, but where?
“I don’t know, where do you want to go?”
“I don’t know, where do you want to go?”
Few things get nowhere faster than four followers sitting in a circle waiting for someone to take charge.
I wanted to be in a golf league but it was impossible to find the right mix of guys playing on the right course on the right night at the right time.
So I started my own golf league.
Now I have what I need, except of course for a decent golf game.
Point is, a group of us wanted to play golf together but sooner or later someone had to stand up and say, “Okay guys, follow me.”
That’s not a leader born; that’s a leader born out of frustration.
Had I learned that lesson sooner I would have saved a lot of hours staring at three other guys saying, “I don’t know, do you want to go there?”
I’m getting older in a business that is getting younger by the hire.
That, too, is thrusting me into the role of leader by default, as people stop by the desk to ask when something happened in town or who the best contact for a certain story would be.
I don’t always know if I’m saying the right thing.
Of course, I expect all of that to change when I come home next week.
Hey! The problem with this Comments section is still leading me astray. If you follow what I’m saying, you can take charge of your thoughts by emailing me at scott.bremner@wsee.tv.
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