How inspiring leadership can change lives
We are talking about exerting a positive influence on another person; but not just any influence, like the one that motivates you to run a 5-kilometer race once in your life; we are talking about the ability to influence greatly, “to the max”: changing the lives, behaviors, attitudes, and performance of those you lead.
It is something almost magical and wonderful when it happens. Stories of influence are presented to us in all dimensions and facets: we know a lot about Jack Welch, who took GE from 12 to 410 billion dollars in 20 years, about Gandhi achieving peaceful independence, or Mother Teresa caring for thousands of the poorest of the poor.
They are not just leaders; they are heroes like few others. They are agents of radical, significant transformations, not marginal improvements. Like the level 5 leaders described by Jim Collins in “Good to Great”; leaders who at some point in their management seem to say: “That’s it! I’m tired of us being good, now we will be the best, we will be great.” And they undertake a series of actions that completely change their reality.
Not all of us will have such a significant responsibility. But the leadership capable of changing the life of another person—or a considerable group of people—is within our reach. We all have a circle of influence, no matter how small it is.
“For the world, you are just one person; but for some person, you can be the world,” said Josephine Billings. This is entirely true when we think of a child regarding their mother, the grandmother regarding the grandchild who cares for her, and also the student regarding the teacher who has believed in them, sometimes the only person who has believed in them.
When you change your view of leadership; when you stop thinking only about the result and focus on the people who achieve the result; when you think about the impact you can have on the lives of your team, then your leadership takes on a radically new and different dimension.
The leader is a multiplier of impact if they touch the lives of other people.
