Simon Sinek says “no one wakes up in the morning and wants to be managed. They want to be led.” Expounding on this point, Sinek says that we manage processes, projects, and schedules but people must be led. Developing this idea further, Sinek says that in business we view management as a position or rank in a company, but “leadership is a responsibility to see those around us rise.”
While effective leadership may come more naturally to some than others, more commonly, leadership is a learned skill. As Sinek puts it, most of us have training to do the jobs we do, and if we’re good at that job, we get promoted through the ranks over the course of our career. Then, one day we get promoted to the place that we no longer do the job we’re trained to do, but we now do a new job called leadership, and we often get little to no training on how to do that. It’s a skill to be honed, and we must hone it continually. In fact, Sinek says that the greatest leaders he knows not only study leadership but regard themselves as leadership students more than leadership experts. That’s because leadership isn’t so much a position we hold as a responsibility(and privilege) we bear. Said another way, management is tactical, but leadership is a core human function.
As John Maxwell notes, “A leader is great, not because of their power, but because of their ability to empower others.” In other words, leadership isn’t about the leaders—it’s about helping the people they lead fulfill their full potential.
At Icelaven, we challenge ourselves to lead well, inspiring and empower our people. This starts with getting their buy-in to our vision and core values and holding ourselves accountable to becoming the leaders our teams deserve.
One of the charter schools we manage is named the South Carolina Leadership School, which we formed to help students prepare for life. Just as we expect those students to learn practical skills to make the world a better place, so we we must daily challenge ourselves to resist the temptation to manage, and truly lead—making others better off for having known us.