If you ask long-time leaders how their actual experience of leadership has been, compared to their perceptions going into it, most will tell you they are vastly different. For me, the longer I do it, the more wrong my early thoughts on the subject appear in retrospect. Here is a list of my top misconceptions going in.
1. Leaders get their way. When I first started my career, I thought leaders just did what they wanted all the time. But over the 22 years I have been CEO, I have come to see that is far from true. In fact, I’ve developed a saying I tell people all the time, “Things would be a lot different around here if I were in charge.” In order to run an organization properly, you need to listen to a lot of different voices. Sometimes what’s best for the business is something the leader does not even want to do. The only way and getting your way look the same to people on the outside of the decision.
2. People follow you because you’re in charge. Thinking people that are apathetic toward your urgings before you lead them will be somehow responsive to your directives once you’re in charge is a common misconception among aspiring or new leaders. Sure, having the title alters dynamics to a degree. But the best leaders inspire people to act because it is in the collective interest and expression of their own personal values. Leadership is merely influence, and you can inspire people to act without being their boss. Figuring that out before you’re in charge will save you a lot of problems down the road.
3. People would feel more included if I were in charge. This can be true on the main, but not always the margin. If you are a skilled facilitator, you can create an inclusive environment and score a lot of points where collective leadership is concerned. But people will often view a decision that does not go their way as an indication that they were not considered in the process. No matter how much listening you do, decisions attributed to you will never please everyone all the time. So, do your best to involve people in decisions. Be inclusive, but do not beat up on yourself too much if you do not get perfect scores in this area all the time.
People that find themselves in leadership roles, particularly those at a young age, often get there because they are confident they can do it, because they’ve been frustrated with their past bosses, and because they want a challenge. A healthy ego can be a good, even necessary, thing going into it. But over time and lots of mistakes, humility can emerge that is necessary to see ourselves and the others (former bosses included) with grace. Much of that emerges as we replace preconceived notions with actual experience.
Daniel Flowers is President and CEO of the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank
