Leaders – are you above others?

Many people think that leaders or people who are very successful think they are better than others.  I got to thinking why that was.  The reason, I think, is because that’s how some people at the top behave.  Some think they are better than everyone else, and fail to remember where they came from or how they got there.  

Perhaps living a life where you call all the shots and do what you want disconnected them from other people and made them feel superior. 

In their defense, I would say that some people assume that the leader is a snob or feels above them, just because other leaders are like that.  For some, it’s less that they feel the leader is above them than it is them feeling they are below the leader.  Indeed I have had people get nervous when I walk into a room and act differently.  But that has more to do with them and less with me.

Respecting the leader is probably a good idea.  But the leader needs to know why it is that people show that respect.  If it is fear, just the office or title, that the leader has the power to determine the fate of his employees, or that the leader demanded respect without earning it – well those are the wrong reasons.

For me, a life of leadership is one of great responsibility.  It is also a privilege.  It is given to you by the people you lead because of what you have enabled for them and the team that would not have been there had you not been present.  But it can be fragile.  If you lose the respect of those you lead, your ability to lead them will diminish, and eventually, they will leave you.

Do not look at anyone’s work as unimportant or lowly relative to yours.  It takes all of us to make the team go.  Don’t be “that” leader who gives the rest of us a bad rap.

What people do below us is not beneath us.