Being a leader, I have a lot of friends. When I walk into a room people smile at me, say hello, and act like my friend. My world is probably nicer than most because people at work smile at me more – because I am the boss. Just telling the truth here.
Do I like it? Yeah! It’s nice! But the truth is, my positional power gets me instant friends when I meet people. Some call me “Sir” or “Mr. Janesky”. (I tell them to call me Larry.)
(Funny how when I go to a place where nobody knows me it’s like being in a different world – something is different. I’m just an average person!)
Most of my best friends work for me. (A person who was trying to cut me down once said “You pay all your friends”.) lol. True!
I obviously have a healthy relationship with this idea and with my friends. Of course, how you handle all this makes a difference. If your ego balloons due to your positional power, or you start talking down to people, then others will see that and the percentage of fake friends you have will grow, and the number of genuine friends will shrink.
Leaders will get a lot of fake friends who want to kiss up to get something. Knowing the difference between real friends and fake ones is important. Real friends will tell you where you can improve – fake ones would never do that.
No matter what, leaders will attract fake friends. It may be people just showing respect and they are a bit awkward in trying to be friendly. Put them at ease and smile back and take an interest in them.
When you identify someone who is a dangerous fake friend, who makes you feel uncomfortable, your gut saying “watch out”, keep them at arms length or remove them from your organization.
“A bad friend can be more dangerous than a determined enemy.” -Dr. Mardy Groethe
Of course, leadership isn’t always sunny faces around you because you are the leader. Some will hate you just because you are the leader (“the man”), and others will blame you, publicly or privately, for all the imperfections and ills of anything you could possibly control somehow.
Hey – you wanted to be a leader!
Learning how to deal with your position and celebrity effectively is important for a leader not to be destroyed by his own rise to the title, however that happened.
As for me, relationships are important. and I respect those that can do their work well, get results, and want to be here. I hope I have a million friends, and over 40 years in business, have learned to enjoy the people around me with all their idiosyncrasies.
” A homemade friend wears longer than one you buy in the market.” – Austin O’Malley
Okay, so I’m one of the many friends that work for Mr Janesky, lol Larry.
I didn’t chose to work for him because he was my friend, I chose to work for him because I Saw & Believed in his vision.
Many moons ago, Larry and I were talking and was explaining how he believed he could help many contractors achieve what their own goals & happiness were.
That struck a chord with me, he wasn’t selling his agenda but rather helping people achieve their own goals and agenda.
WOW❗
I thought of a comment I heard Zig Ziegler say, if you help enough people get what they want, you in return will get what you want.
At the time I didn’t fully understand what Zig was trying to say, Larry brought it in the focus for me.
That’s when I decided to Hitch my horse to his wagon and be part of the team that is set to make history. It’s been over 25 years now and we are still changing people’s lives for the better and I am enjoying this epic journey we are on.
Thank You Larry.
So Proud to call you My Friend / Brother.
The Best Is Yet To Come❗
Fantastic, thank you for sharing Larry!
So much truth to this. Another thing for me is that true friends are intentional. In other words, even though I have close friends that I can always count on; we each work to build and maintain the relationship.
Very true! I greatly appreciate the friendship I have with you and the other members of the network. In my opinion, we have the best group of friends that a person could ever ask for. I believe we are just getting started and it’s refreshing to be a part of!