The Leadership Switch
The great mistake of a person’s life occurs when they delude themselves into thinking that they cannot lead people. Unfortunately, some people come to believe that leadership is an innate attribute or trait, decided by the genetic battle or infant priming. The conclusion, then, is that some people naturally exude leadership — and others happen to follow them. Lucky for us, this conclusion is wrong.
We lead in the same way we play basketball, paint a picture, or drive a car. That is, when we lead, we actively use a skill that we have practiced and developed over time. That leadership experts — i.e., people who are not me — can divide leading up into specific sub-skills shows this. One can understand driving as the sum of the sub-skills of operating a car, interacting with traffic, navigation, knowledge of rules of the road, etc. So too with leading. Leading requires the use of sub-skills like active listening, empathizing, negotiation, and effective communication, among many others. (One of my greatest mentors often reminded me that “leadership, like teaching, is a communication event”).
And, just like playing basketball, painting pictures, or driving cars, sometimes we lead and sometimes we do not. Of course, you’re very good at determining whether you’re driving or not. If your body is behind the wheel of a moving vehicle, then you’re driving (I hope). However, some skills present more difficult questions of their active use than this simple moving car test.
The decision to start leading demands something different than other skills. It necessitates giving attention to a foundational aspect of “how leaders think, learn, and behave: their mindsets.” To lead, you must first activate a leader mindset within yourself. You have to mentally change your focus from yourself to others’ needs and an organization’s growth. You view incoming information through a new lens, a lens that highlights issues such as morale, wellness, diversity, and goal-accomplishment. Next, after engaging your leader mindset, you start using those leadership sub-skills like problem seeking-and-solving and feedback gathering, to add two more to the list above. The implementation of a mental tool can aid this process of mindset shifting and sub-skill activation. That tool is the Leadership Switch.
When starting to lead, visualize a light switch — the Leadership Switch. Flipping the Leadership Switch on is like sitting down in the driver’s seat, closing the door, and buckling your seatbelt. You flip the Switch on, shift into the leader mindset, and activate those leadership sub-skills. When the Switch is on, you’re a perfect active listener, for example. Using the Leadership Switch requires a few seconds in focused thought. You may even want to say out loud to yourself, “the Switch is on.” (Warning: doing that around other people may result in suspicious glances). The Leadership Switch presents benefits like clear work-life separation. During vacation, you can keep the Switch off more often. No one can lead all the time. Moreover, the Leadership Switch can provide an avenue for wider societal improvement.
The most important benefit of the Leadership Switch is the message it gives to everyone. Through its focus on activation of a skill, the Switch reminds us that to lead is to do, not to be. This helps people avoid the great mistake of shirking from leadership. Every one of us can lead! You lead when you acknowledge an unheard perspective in class; you lead when you focus on an office’s unspoken problems at meetings; you lead when you help a friend work through their emotions; you lead when you simply get other people excited. You lead when you flip the Switch on. Once people view daily acts as leadership, more substantial acts like heading a volunteer organization or putting on a community event suddenly look more manageable. Choosing a shortcut will make you feel queasy when you have the Switch on. That’s because doing the right thing — doing small acts of integrity — seems a lot more appealing when you’re leading. Imagine the difference in humanity’s course if everyone led more often. You cannot help but picture an achievable utopia.
