Simon Sinek is one of the great thought-leaders in the field of leadership. In my opinion, Simon Sinek switched the focus away from the autocratic leader-in-charge to instead speak to leaders who wanted to become better people leaders. He also became the voice of aspiring Millennials in early to mid-career seeking more from their leadership. It was timely and very much needed — and still is. There are some terrible leaders out there.
But the thing is, the ‘horrible boss’ is just not my experience from the leaders I coach. Maybe I just attract great leaders, or maybe it’s simply that the people who seek out coaching tend to want to become better leaders so they have a natural people-focus to begin with.
Here’s what I do see. The leaders who value their people and who want to be good people-leaders have lost their way with some of the good advice out there about being a good people leader. They’ve adopted Robert K Greenleaf’s philosophy of ‘servant leadership’ where the leader’s primary goal is to empower and support the development and success of their people rather than advancing their own interests, but they’ve misapplied it. Instead of being ‘in service of” (a cause, a vision, a strategy, their team), they’ve become ‘servant to’.
You can have empathy, be curious and listen, collaborate, and foster an environment where individuals feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their best AND still actually lead. You have to be in charge. In fact, people want you to lead them. They don’t want you to control them but they want you to lead them. And you’re getting paid to lead. It is your responsibility to focus on important and strategic work that leads towards a vision even when it’s busy and your to-do list is endless. It is your responsibility to make hard decisions. You can be empathetic and still hold standards. You can still address bad behaviour. It is actually required of you not only for the organization, but for the rest of the team. The entire team suffers when you don’t do so.
What are you ‘in service of’, and where have you become ‘servant to’? I’m always happy to hear your thoughts.
