Leading as yourself…why do it any other way? #leadership

During the summer months, my word is relatively calm and quiet. The halls and classrooms and halls are silent.

Luckily last week my former (sigh.) counselor came by to see me. I am always actually smarter after she leaves me, which is a rare gift.

This time we had a great conversation about the people in our space. I struggle with having a “‘person” in my world. Do you have “A” person? Like your very best friend? The one you play with, work with, snack with, share with, vacation with?

I don’t. Well. I do.

I have all kinds of people who do all the things…but they vary based on season, decade, or shoot, sometimes geographical location. At times though, I am sad that there isn’t one person who has been there through it all. LIKE all. This is where I found myself when Shari the awesome visited. There’s something of value in a long-lasting friendship that has seen you through the phases of your life, ya know?

Per usual, her perspective challenged what I thought I was thinking.

What if instead of a person, you have people? What if in different seasons of life, you have different needs, priorities, or focuses?

What if it was incredibly unfair to place the expectations of meeting ALL your needs on the back of one?

Not only did this challenge a thought (literally) that I’ve had since high school..but as a result, it released a WHOLE lot of feelings I’ve probably silently (and not so silently) harbored for a really long time.

I hope you surround yourself with people. People who are like you, and people who are different. People who are there for you for a season, those who are there for a longer time. I hope you remember that as the leader you become one of your team’s people. The one who delivers good news and the one delivers bad news.  And when you do have bad news to deliver… you’ll find that you need your people as well.

I’ve seen so many posts lately about leading/sharing separate facets of who you are…for example, the professional person vs the personal person.

I have no interest in people only seeing the professional side of me. It’s incomplete without knowing #allthethings, like how I love football or snacks, or how I read voraciously. You have to know I’m a wife, a mom, a daughter, and a sister. That I yell at football games and I’m a terrible sports mom. You’d miss how very interwoven my principal-ing is with who I am.

If you didn’t know those things and so many more about me, you wouldn’t know me at all. And that’s no way to lead.

Turns out maybe I don’t need a person. I have my wolf pack. And that’s just fine with me.

 

Openly &