5 Leadership Lessons: A Personal Reflection

I tend to get nostalgic around the Holidays…and I’m usually hit by a slew of random memories from my younger years. Driving to work earlier this week, I found myself reflecting back to a lesson learned in leadership. It was my senior year of high school, and the time had come to start applying for college scholarships. The scholarship that I had my heart set upon would cover my first two years of college completely – and fortunately, it was an essay competition. I had a talent for using pretty words and real life examples or statistics to ace essay exams. The topic? Leadership.

I turned to the inspirational leader in my life, my father, for some advice on the topic. A business owner, coach, and community leader – I knew he could help me brainstorm some award-winning words. He shared a few words of wisdom. He said,

Sara, the key to being the greatest leader – is to first be the greatest servant.

Silently, I thought sarcastically about how the slaves commissioned with building the Great Pyramid of Giza would NOT agree. However, I realized that I could use a TON of historical examples to back my case: Mother Teresa, MLK Jr., Ghandi, JFK, Napolean Hill, etc. all placed the success, well-being, or equality of the others around them as their utmost priority – and in doing so, became recognized as some of the greatest leaders of all time. I realized that I could win the scholarship by wording it properly – even though, I hadn’t lived it.

JFK makes the point clear, "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

The school board made the announcement that I was the winner,

In Sara’s essay, she had one particular sentence that stands out ‘the greatest leader is first the greatest servant.” Her words speak the truth – and hopefully a concept that you will all grow to understand someday.

I wore a smile on stage, accepted the award and applause – and sort of felt ill realizing that those words were truly not my own. Unnerving yes, but the memory faded quickly.

Fast-forward years later and I finally understand what my dad meant – the joy of helping others succeed is the most rewarding feeling ever – to know that the work you are doing is improving a company’s brand messaging, imagery, reach, and bottom line. Delivering results and watching clients rave about the results – it’s what I and the amazing team at Blue lives for! While I certainly don’t have all the answers, I have grown to love the lessons and humility that life delivers.

Here are 5 Leadership Lessons that I’ve learned through the power of experience.

1) It’s not about you. It’s about them. Them being your customers, clients and partners. They don’t want to hear about how amazing you are. They want to understand how what you have to offer will help them. How can you find out what they want? Ask the right questions and learn to listen.

2) A leader has faith. Move forward with faith, strategically. If you plan to make your clients successful and supremely happy – your business and reputation grows alongside them.

3) A leader doesn’t need to be a VP. Anyone can lead, regardless of title. Robin Sharma makes a great case of this in the book, “A Leader without a Title”

4) A leader is passionate. Do you absolutely love what you do? Is it your passion? A leader wins by putting all of their efforts into what he or she loves most.

5) A leader takes care of their own needs. A leader realizes that in order to best serve others, they must maintain their health and happiness. Commit to exercising at least 3x a week, balance your diet with healthy foods (at least some!) and treat your body with respect.

I would love to hear about any lessons in leadership or business that you’ve learned through experience. Thanks for reading. Happy Holidays! DO share your stories by commenting below.