Unintentional Leadership

Leadership requires intentionality, but the impact of our leadership is often unintentional. Here is what I mean – John Maxwell defines leadership as influence, nothing more nothing less. Using that definition as a framework, we influence people around us whether we are aware of it or not. From a leadership standpoint, we are influencing people in ways that we are often not aware of and sometimes the influence produces an undesirable outcome.

This is why I firmly believe that self-awareness is an important leadership attribute. I don’t think anyone is 100% self aware. We all have blind spots and we all have ways in which we show up that impact people. For example, anxious leaders create environments where people play it safe and are afraid to fail. Indecisive leaders create environments of stagnation that typically frustrate high performers.

To gauge how others are impacted by you, ask them this question: What is it like working with me?