There are so many new and exciting ways of defining and understanding leadership that are emerging, or perhaps just becoming more well known. I believe our understanding of leadership now and in the future will play a key role in determining the future state of the planet. The best part about this is that once we move beyond the notion of ‘leaders’ and ‘followers’, we can begin to realize the potential for leadership within every person that we meet, including ourselves… we can all be leaders, simultaneously leading each other in different ways.
I was asked to share my personal story of leadership at a Regional Leadership Training Summit taking place out at UBC this weekend. The Summit is being organized by 2 groups involved in the campus climate movement in BC: goBEYOND Campus Climate Network and Common Energy UBC.
I was asked to speak on my experience as a leader, how I grew into the role, what keeps me going, how I’ve grown, etc. I chose not to talk about leadership so much in the traditional sense of having ‘this’ job title, or ‘that’ position within an organization. Instead, I decided I wanted to talk about this new kind of leadership, the leadership that applies to everyone, everywhere, and how to apply it to our every day lives.
I also wanted to share this with more people, like you.
Being one of those people who think best by writing, I wrote out what I planned to say during the talk beforehand. I’ve copied and pasted some of this below. I found it really useful to reflect on what leadership means to me, and in what ways I strive to be a leader in my own life. I think this differs for everyone, which is why it would be a useful exercise for all people to reflect on their own personal leadership.
I hope you will find these points useful in developing your own skills as a leader – no matter what you are doing in life.
Leadership
-I thought I could stand up here and tell you about the different leadership roles I’ve had in the past, and my experiences with that, but I didn’t think that would be as useful to you, because everyone leads in a different way.
-There’s often the belief that we need to be given a specific leadership job or role to play within an organization before we consider ourselves a leader.
-The truth is, we all have the ability to lead, no matter what we are doing. So we don’t need to strive for that leadership position and think, ‘then, I will be a leader’. Or ‘one day, I will be a leader’. We can all start to lead right now.
-True leadership is not about the what, but rather, it’s about the how.
-So there’s the what leader (in a management position, etc.), and there is the how leader
-Another word for the ‘how’ leader could be the quiet leader (who’s heard of quiet leadership?) and another word for the ‘what’ leader could be the authoritative leader (more dominating and telling people what to do/giving specific directions)
-The two are not mutually exclusive.
-So what does being a ‘how’ leader look like?
1) Having a strong network (social and professional) –> in other words, it’s all about relationships. Every time you meet someone new it is an opportunity to lead. The more people in your network, the more people you are able to engage in your passions and inspire others — both for themselves, and for your own passions.
2) Listening –> listen to people when they talk, try to understand their thought processes and their perspectives. Be open minded and willing to learn from them – even if you are sure you are right.
3) Willingness to stretch –> out of comfort
4) Embracing change –> not resisting
5) Always looking for more –> continuous thirst for knowledge and learning
6) Taking initiative
7) Believing in your abilities
8) Self-awareness –> listen to yourself, recognize the changes that happen within you, and support yourself.
If you follow these ‘how’ leadership practices… you will likely find yourself in ‘what’ leadership positions. You become the leader first, and the positions will follow. Building your network is key, but so are all of the other things – when you display such ‘how’ leadership qualities, other people will want to be around you and have you lead, because you will simultaneously be facilitating their own growth as a leader.
-My hope is that you can all take these points on ‘how’ leadership and apply them to your work in sustainability. You could even refer to ‘how’ leadership as ‘sustainable’ leadership – because this is the kind of leadership that lasts beyond any sort of title or job position you are given.
I want to end with a quote by John Quincy Adams:
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”
Discussion questions on this quote (taken from the book Tri-namics: Provocative Questions for Leadership Wisdom by Debbie Payne & Erna Hagge):
a) What do I do for myself that stimulates me to dream more, learn more, and become more?
b) What do I do for others that stimulate them to dream more, learn more and become more?
c) What do I want to do with this information?
**A BIG thank you to Debbie Payne and her wonderful definition of what leadership means to her, which inspired many of these thoughts.
-Becca
