What my 4-year old has taught me about leadership
My wife and I have a very active 4-year old son. Anyone who has spent a lot of time with children knows they often don’t have a filter. At times this can be bad, but sometimes it is very thought-provoking. I’ve read many great articles over the years on leadership from high-profile CEO’s, High-ranking Military officers, and inspirational leaders. I have learned a lot from these various sources however, I am finding some of the core foundations of leadership can come right from our children.
Below are few candid comments that have been shared by my son over the last several months that have made me stop and reflect on leadership.
“It’s dark upstairs, will you hold my hand?”
As a leader, we sometimes lead our teams into the “unknown”. It can be a change within the organization, a big meeting we are preparing for, a customer-facing event that could go in many different directions, you name it. We need to instill the confidence and trust within our team to let them know it will be alright and we will be with them every step of the way. It’s important they know we are there for them and will we go at it together. Prior to being in leadership myself, I had the misconception that good leaders had all the answers. I now know from personal experience that isn’t always the case. Although, I often don’t have all the immediate answers I have found that people always appreciate the presence and support of knowing they aren’t facing a situation alone.
“Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, but it’s okay.”
Everyone in some capacity whether in sports, work, or your occasional Monopoly game is competitive (in my son’s case, any game involving hockey). We won’t win all the time, but it’s how we react to our losses that tell us a story about ourselves. I have found that in leadership it takes emotional intelligence to not have a bad attitude after a loss. It is important to quickly assess and analyze where we went wrong and learn from it.
“Sharing is Caring”
If there is one word that we say the most when we are with our son and other kids, it’s “share”. I love to learn. I want to read books and articles about leadership successes and how to replicate them, but I also enjoying reading about challenges and failures. In leadership (and personally), I feel it’s equally important that we share where we have had success and where we have struggled. I have found that I have learned more from conversations with others sharing experiences than any other avenue of learning.
In our four years with our son, we have had some humbling conversations. Sometimes it’s a laughable moment, sometimes not. I believe that leadership principles happen around us daily, however, it all depends on how we look at them. I am still learning every day on how to be a better leader. I look forward to all the additional things he will teach me as he grows.
-Michael Jobe (Bad Boy)