Leadership

The original version of this quote was “leadership is better caught than taught.” Of course, I certainly agree with this, because if an organization is teaching people good leadership skills but the leader(s) aren’t modeling these skills, the instruction will be only minimally effective.

However, what this leaves out is the fact that that those of us who are leaders, (either within our organization and/or our families) are always having an impact on those around us. The only question is whether the impact is positive or negative. In other words, our leadership style, or how we treat others, is always being “caught,” or seen as what it means to be a leader, because we represent how powerful people in our organization and/or our family get things done.

In my seminars I make this point by introducing what I call the “Videotape Concept.” It says, “leaders should be willing to interact with everyone in their organization, and/or their family in such a way that the interaction can be videotaped and used as a training film for how you want them to interact with everyone within the organization and family, and everyone outside the organization and family.”

Of course, when I say this, most everyone starts to chuckle, because, as human beings, I’m sure we can all recall a time in the past and think, “Boy, I’m glad that wasn’t on videotape!” Therefore, to be clear, I’m not saying we have to be perfect, just more purposeful.

Part of this is due to the fact that almost everyone today has a camera phone, which means it’s possible that we are being recorded whether we know it or not. However, even if we aren’t being videotaped literally, we are being recorded figuratively, because to those in our organization or family, we represent how powerful people get things done.

That’s what I mean by “Leadership is always more caught than taught.”

So, now all we have to do is ensure that what they are “catching” is what we are wanting to teach. If so, great! If not, we can change how we are showing up as a leader to where the qualities we are modeling are indeed what we want others to emulate. Either way, everybody wins!