Introduction:
The most effective leadership style of them all
Someone asked me a while ago, “Phil, who do you get your leadership style from?”
I thought it was an interesting question, and my mind immediately jumped to consider the leaders I respect the most, along with the well-known leadership styles and models that exist: the democratic leadership style, the laissez-faire, the authoritative, the transactional, and transformative. I tried to pin down which one I took my own leadership style from.
Then it hit me – I shouldn’t take my style from anyone. I should only ever create my own.
I’m not saying that success hasn’t left us clues, and that great leaders don’t have common traits
But there is no five-step strategy that we should all follow to being a leader. No one way that is the right way, no one way that will be effective for everyone.
There’s so much noise. So much advice, guidance, thoughts, opinions on who we should be, how we should do it, and how we should act… that we all too easily lose who we are.
Oscar Wilde famously said, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
So simple, yet so hard.
The world is craving authenticity right now
Your teams are craving authentic leadership, and the only way to be authentic is to be you. We have to lean in, accept who we are, and bring our whole selves into what we do.
Create your own leadership style
Don’t buy into the hype and noise about how you should lead. Don’t look around and try to emulate the person who did the job before you or the leader in your industry, local, or global.
Don’t let the environment mold you into something and someone you’re not.
Instead, take the aspects of the common styles that resonate with you and then look in the mirror and create your own leadership style. Look at your own failures and learn and grow from them. Look at the individuals you work with and lead and understand what resonates with them – understand how they want to be led. It’s different for us all.
Be true to who you are – it’s the only thing you have that differentiates you from the person next to you. Own who you are, every single part of it.
What are your core values?
What is your own definition of success?
What is your own leadership philosophy, and how do you want to show up as a leader?
Rarely do we take the time to pause and reflect on these questions. But without knowing how we want to show up, without knowing the core values that drive us, we’re navigating in the dark.
We need a handrail, something to guide us when everything else around us is pulling us in so many different directions. It’s like having a lighthouse – it’s not needed when all is smooth and going well, so it’s easy to forget about, to not prioritize it. But when it’s rough, when the seas are raging and we just need some guidance and direction, that same lighthouse becomes vital to help show us the way.
A leader who knows who they are and is secure in themselves can be a leader who can delegate, trust, and empower.
