Leadership Philosophy
Leadership is often a title people claim without reflection. They chase promotions but rarely pause to consider the impact they want to have—or how they want to lead rather than just manage.
The best leaders know what they are striving to accomplish and understand what leadership means to them.
Today, I am going to define my current leadership ideologies.
Overarching Goal: Be the best leader my team has ever had.
This is intentionally ambiguous and something for me to strive for. I recognize that the best leader for some people will be drastically different from the best leader for others. This allows me to be flexible and adapt to my team and gives me a non-SMART goal to strive for.
I’m not a huge fan of SMART goals. They’re too rigid and I forget about them 37 seconds after crafting them.
Outcomes for My Team:
Teach them skills that span our business and skills that scale to life.
It’s unlikely your people will do the same job forever. Why would you treat them that way? How can you coach them to their current job while setting them up for success in their personal lives and future endeavors?
Help them identify their career paths and the underlying skills and behaviors they need to get going in that direction.
I find career pathing to be a very motivating conversation for most people. Many people say they’re motivated by money, but haven’t clarified what that actually looks like. Most aren’t willing to do what’s required to chase it, and that’s okay—but clarity matters. How can you help them realize this on their own and develop the skills they will need to achieve their actual goals?
Encourage self-efficacy. I want my team to be able to run themselves if I am not there. I believe the mark of a good leader is not co-dependence but enabling people to lean into the skills that you hired them for, going to you for coaching and support as they need it.
If your team panics when you are gone, you aren’t a good leader. They should be calm in your absence and in your stead. How can you help ensure that?
Advocation. My team should be able to advocate for themselves. If they need more support from me, tell me. If they need more support from their business partners, tell them. If you are unsure of how to approach these situations, ask and I will coach you towards success using your own style.
If you can’t advocate for yourself at work, you won’t be able to advocate for yourself in any other setting. How can you foster an environment where people can practice this skill with you?
KPI success. What kind of manager/leader would I be without some emphasis on hitting the organizational metrics? My goal is that by focusing on empowering my people, they will lean into their roles and we will be leaders within our organization.
We all know this is what companies care about. How would empowering your team set them up to crush their scorecard? Would you be motivated if your leader genuinely cared about you?
Personal Methodologies:
Lead with transparency. I am going to tell you as much as I can as soon as I can. I work to be very proactive with my communication as I believe transparency builds trust.
Any time leadership has been clearly withholding information, I have lacked trust in their support. People can sense it. Lead with transparency and your people will respect you and trust you more.
Lead with ownership. If I have not set you up for success by failing to set proper expectations or with a lackluster communication, I will own it. Not only will I own it but I will act on the feedback (where applicable).
Only do this if it is genuine. It’s uncomfortable at first but if you haven’t set your people up for success and you blame them, they will grow to resent you.
Foster a safe environment. All of my efforts are futile if I am not accepting of the information that I am presented with. If I am demeaning or condescending, my people will feel that and not feel comfortable providing me the feedback that we need to grow and be successful. There is no sense in getting angry or upset.
When have you shared something and received the exact response you feared? Don’t be that person.
Most importantly, lead by example. If I set an expectation, I should live up to it. I shouldn’t hold my people accountable to behaviors that I am unwilling to demonstrate myself.
What benefit does it serve to set expectations that you won’t adhere to? What makes you special so you don’t need to follow the rules?
Your leadership philosophies may differ from mine. That’s perfectly okay. I’m not here to make my people, nor you, feel small (although being 6’9” has that effect on people for some reason…).
I want people to see their potential as clearly as I can and to relentlessly pursue it. I want to empower them to be the best versions of themselves. To believe in all that they can do.
What do you want to accomplish with your title?
