I have been blessed in my career to have a number of managers and leaders that I have been able to look up to and learn from. Most of these individuals probably never even realized that I was learning from their actions and behaviors. Some of them may not even remember me at all. But one thing is true, they have all been key contributors to who I am today whether they know it or not.
Truly great leaders are rare. It takes more than just being a great person or a great manager or being great at your job. Truly great leaders are able to demonstrate that these traits are not mutually exclusive. Being an asshole is not actually a requirement to move up and be a leader. Simply being a great human being does not mean you are going to be great at your job. Being great at your job does not make you a leader in itself. I can safely say that far fewer than 1% of the people I have worked with fit the model of being a truly great leader.
Most interestingly, some of the people I have on my list may not appear on the list of others. The traits and skills I admire may not align with what someone else looks for in a leader. This is why it is always interesting to see how people rank various world leaders. The criteria we all look for vary based on the reason we are doing the evaluation, where we are in our lives, and what situations need to be solved.
I value honesty, fair dealing, transparency, not being afraid to fail, self-reflection, and a strong ability to communicate. When I look at my list of mentors, they are strong reflections of this list. To those leaders who have shown me that these values can be part of a successful career, I thank you. To those leaders who have demonstrated how to lead while standing on these principles, I thank you. To those leaders who have done their best to build cultures around these values, I thank you.
If I am able to continue to build my career around these things, it will be in large part because you all have shown a path for it. If I am able to demonstrate to others that these things are possible in business and life, it will be because you gave me extra strength to live up to them consistently. When I encounter failure or do not meet your standard, I will know to step back and try again because a single failure is not the end.
I cannot thank you all enough. Hopefully, I made my respect and appreciation clear, but just in case, I thank you now.
This is so powerful in so many ways, truly agree with you and am personally incredibly grateful to all of my mentors that have helped me get to where I am today in my professional growth and personal growth.
I am also grateful to the “terrible” leaders that I have unfortunately faced in my career as they have taught me extremely valuable lessons on what not to do, how not to behave and the showed me the leader that I absolutely never want to be.