Be the change

- In your journey as a productive leader who develops leadership in others, you'll start to recognize that the greatest lessons are not in the words you say but in the example you provide to others. Your actions and how you live your life set the standard for others to follow. For just a simple example, I remember talking to a young woman many years ago who had no official title of leadership in my life. Yet a small thing she said made me want to improve who I was. I was talking about someone else and saying some negative things about them. She didn't tell me to stop talking. She simply said something positive about that person. This made me want to do a better job of speaking positively of others, particularly when they weren't present. I'm not going to say that I've been perfect about this in my life, but I am going to say that her example, in that moment, has had a longterm influence. In that small moment, she led me. Conversely, if your example is negative, it will undermine anything that you try to get people to do. I've seen those with leadership titles who held themselves up as experts, yet violated the very principles they were preaching to others. Over time, this eroded the confidence of the people they worked with. Their examples stagnated the growth of their organizations, and in some cases, caused them to collapse. Mahatma Gandhi said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." While I believe this is true, the world is a big place. So it's hard to envision your actions changing it all. However, I do believe that you can be the change you wish to see in those you lead. And this change will occur in the small moments of your everyday example.