Three weeks ago an old army friend invited myself, two others and our families over for a house warming barbecue. The four of us catch up several times a year and always ensure we spend our ANZAC days together, having a laugh and reminiscing about our time in service some 15 years ago.
As the afternoon started to fade away, we started up the barbecue and cooked up nothing short of a feast. In the army, we were always taught that women and children eat first.
So, as the mum’s and kids grabbed their plates, ushered through and collected their meals, I noticed something that I hadn’t seen in a while when I looked over at my army mates. Two of them, one previously an officer and the other a sergeant, were waiting in line for me and my other friend to eat first as during our time in service, they were a higher rank than us.
There is an unwritten rule we had which was the higher your rank, the further down the line you were when it came to eating. It had been 15-20 years since we did this last, but there was still an underlying understanding from the leaders that women and children and lower ranks eat first.
The reason why they did this then and why they still do it now, is simply because leaders lead by example.
You may be the CEO, managing director or general manager within your team or organisation, but unless you lead by example and put other people before yourself, you’re just a manager or an authority, you’re not a leader.
“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in our absence.” – Sheryl Sandberg –
If you are a leader, add value to the people you lead. Inspire, motivate, educate and influence them to be leaders by identifying their strengths and putting their needs before your own. A great team is born from the standards that the leader creates and is willing to accept.
My takeaway for this week:
I have worked with people who are at the bottom of their organisational hierarchy, but are better leaders than those who are in charge and earning the big dollars. The reason they are better leaders is because they had an altruistic mindset and put others before themselves. In any team environment, leadership is about action, not position.
Ritch