Spaghetti Leadership - Part 2
Where others voluntarily follow you.
Leaders act like leaders
Those with a privileged mentality who expect or believe that because of their title or status they have a right to be considered the leader are living in 17th century England or acting out a fictitious role in Downtown Abby.
Being called the leader vs. being considered and accepted the leader are very different.
It’s no surprise that those who ACT the part are considered the part. They live like a leader.
Who knew that Sylvester Stallone had never boxed before doing the Rocky series yet boy, did he ever play the part. His $400 million net worth today puts him in the top 10 richest “leading” actors just behind the likes of Mel Gibson, George Clooney, and Tom Cruise.
How do you live the role of a leader? Here are some observations of outstanding leaders with whom I have had the privilege of working over the past 4 decades.
Scarcity
There is something called being “overexposed”.
Being available 24/7 makes you appear very accessible but does nothing to create the mystical quality of leaders.
Seldom do leaders have open calendars. Think of your doctor, accountant, financial planner and even dentist. You rely on their leadership of the services they provide. You are willing to accept their calendar availability which their office proudly reveals to you before ever asking when you might be available.
Similarly, they tend to be the last - never first - to meetings – the grand entrance.
To cite Miss Piggy’s tweet. “A true diva must always arrive fashionably late. No one ever made a grand entrance by showing up on time”
How you manage the frequency and timing of your appearance plays a pivotal role in building the alure of your leadership image.
Complacency creep
One thing you will never hear a great leader do – complain about how much work they have. This bemoaned state is usually the privilege of middle management.
Complacency is just not part of their vernacular.
Think of some of the great entrepreneurial leaders like Françoise Bettencourt Meyers (Director of the L’Oréal beauty empire and richest woman in the world) E. Musk, Sir R. Branson, and J. Bezos.
Admittedly their collective wealth rivals the national revenue of many countries, however, they always seem to have time to do “just one more thing” like plan a flight into outer space or travel across oceans in an air balloon.
They will revel over what they just accomplished, but not for long. They are far too busy thinking forward to the next challenge to waste time on what just passed.
Seldom will you find them reminiscing about “the good old days” or past achievements.
Thinking forward – predicting what’s next, is not only the all-consuming focus of leaders but what others around them expect of a leader.
Be the part and you will become it. In the words of that enigmatic actor Anthony Hopkins of the monstrous Hannibal series, “the art of acting is not to act. Once you show them more, what you show them, in fact is bad acting.”
The offer of Solutions
It is understood that those being led have the problems and those who lead solve them.
Demonstrating a no problem attitude is not only expected of leaders, but also revered, especially in a client-supplier relationship such as is found in an Advertising or Marketing Agency with their client.
We are talking about seemingly being unfazed by problems - despite the fact that inside, you may be dreading the outcome and consequences.
When others are overwhelmed by the situation, the leader appears only minimally irritated by the interruption.
When being faced by seemingly insurmountable odds, the leader looks to be enjoying themselves.
A problem to a leader is considered something from the past – even though it may exist in present time. “Oh yes, I’ve seen that happen before – there really is a simple solution to it”.
During the worst of times, leaders are already seeing and considering the solutions. Today’s news is tomorrow’s wrapping paper.
More to come in Part’s 3 & 4 - Spaghetti Leadership Stay tuned
