When most of us think about leadership, we see it as the ability to inspire a group of people, a team, or even an individual person to help them achieve a certain goal.
The majority of people talk about leadership in terms of business and how to lead in the boardroom.
But as individuals, it’s important that we see leadership as a valuable skill that we all have the capacity for.
Leadership is about how we choose to live our lives.
The actual definition of leadership is to influence, inspire, and help others become their best selves while building their skills and achieving goals along the way.
So it doesn’t matter what you do—it’s all leadership.
How you interact with your friends, how you are present with your family, what you do at work, and how you treat the people around you are all a part of being a leader.
Leadership isn’t barking orders at the people around you, getting them to do what you want them to do.
Leadership is being the kind of person that others would want to follow.
I truly believe that the best leaders are those who bring others with them.
Leadership means including others.
To be a good leader, it’s not about leading from the top down. This kind of leadership will rarely ever inspire the people around you.
Instead, it’s about including people in the conversation, sharing ideas, being willing to listen to others, and finding answers together.
When we can lead like this in our personal lives, there is so much good we can do, especially in our homes and communities.
Leadership is about leading in such a way that you are including other people and walking with them.
When leaders bring other people with them on their journey, their actions become inspiring, and their kindness becomes contagious.
We are leading every day.
As I’ve thought about my life and the different times where leadership has been more pronounced, what I’ve come to recognize is that every day is leadership.
When I think about it in terms of working with my kids and how I run the things in my household, leadership has been crucial.
If I want my children to do something, I need to lead out in that.
Being a parent is about inspiring our children to be good humans. And the best way to make that happen is by being good humans ourselves.
Our children look up to us. How we lead will determine how they grow and develop and eventually lead out in their own lives.
When I think of leadership in how I run my business and even in how I interact with people outside my home, it really is all leadership.
Leadership is not just for other people.
In my experience, I’ve found that a lot of people tend to think that leadership is for other people—not for them.
We may tell ourselves, “I’m not a leader. I couldn’t be in charge of that. That’s for someone else who would be better at it.”
But the truth is, leadership IS for you. Leadership is for everyone.
No matter where we are or what we do, we are all leaders.
We are leaders in our homes and in our communities, and we are even leaders for ourselves.
Within my volunteer roles, I hold a position that is a leadership position. And within my business, I am a one-woman show, so I am constantly leading myself.
I want to be very clear—you are a leader.
It’s important that you recognize that you are leading every day in the choices you make and in the things you do.
Every choice you make is about leadership.
Each day, there are many choices we get to make.
The way we think about our decisions, the things we choose to spend our time and energy on, the people we surround ourselves with, and the way we positively impact other people—that is all leadership.
It’s vital for us to understand that because we have a choice, the choices we make every day will determine what kind of leader we become.
Our world needs more people who embrace leadership and use it in a positive way to help those around them.
One of the most important things we can do as leaders is to strengthen and develop the leadership of others.
It has been said that a rising tide lifts all ships. As we improve our own leadership skills, we will naturally lift those around us and help them to improve theirs as well.
Life is not a competition.
For some, they see leadership as a competition to the top.
But the reality is that leadership is about making sure everyone around you is successful.
It’s about focusing less on yourself and more on finding the best way to work with the people within your sphere of influence and helping them to shine.
With this very significant part of leadership, you can see how it really does apply to every aspect of our lives.
Whether it’s the people in our homes, the people in our workplaces, the people in our volunteer work, or the interactions we have with friends, it can all be tied back to leadership.
Being kind and empathetic to others and really taking other people into account as we lead is the sign of a good leader.
The more we place our focus on others, the stronger we of a leader we will be.
You are the leader the world needs.
The qualities of a leader include vision, integrity, empathy, communication, adaptability, and the ability to inspire and motivate others.
It’s about taking initiative, making positive choices, and helping others find positive outcomes in their lives.
Whether it’s in your personal life, your community, the professional world, or even among your friends, you are the leader the world around you needs.
As I’ve said before, we may not ever change the world, but we can change our corner of it. And it all begins with how we see ourselves.
See yourself as a leader.
I promise that as you help others around you shine, you will create a more fulfilling life for yourself in the process.
