Step up and say "I Will!"

Good Day Renewing Leadership Blog Readers! I am thrilled to be writing my first post in joining Paul’s efforts to renew leadership. His invitation to contribute could not have come at a better time – I had been kicking around a number of thoughts inside my head with regards to leadership… where it shows up, how it shows up, who shows it, when it shows up, how leaders are identified and the whole relational context that all of these variables take place in. That’s a lot to handle internally for an extrovert such as myself, so hopefully contributing will be equally as cathartic as it will be exciting to share my thoughts with the blogosphere of leadership junkies like myself J

Leadership is often made out to be a complicated, complex subject – a ballroom dance between the leader and his or her collaborators surrounded by an intricate concerto of demands, values, and expectations of results. But, what if we didn’t perceive leadership that way? What if it didn’t have to be complicated? Do we, as leadership junkies and educators, do a disservice by choosing to make our passion-topic more complicated than it needs to be? It certainly makes us sound smart when we can discuss the positives and negatives of multiple leadership theories, and integrating overlapping patterns to help individuals develop their philosophy, but does that simply perplex our target market of individuals interested in developing their leadership?

Wouldn’t leadership be more inclusive if it were simpler? It certainly wouldn’t require multiple training sessions, corporate life coaches, or constitute a skill set reserved for individuals born with a charismatic personality. What if leadership was simply stepping up and saying, “I will”?

Regardless of the time in history or the personal characteristics of an individual, when someone steps up and says, “I will” - this seems to be, from my perspective, the easiest way to define a leader. Leadership then, is simply the mixture of a person, in the right place, at the right time and saying, “I will”. Some examples:

• George Washington was a surveyor prior to being involved in the revolutionary army. Surveying was a well-educated and respected profession that George was very good at. However, when the time was right – George was the individual who, with much prodding, stepped up and said, “I will – lead a new nation”. He could have easily kept his job, living life simply and without excessive conflict. But George made a choice, and that choice was to step up. That seemingly insignificant choice to say, “I will” made all the difference.

As a disclaimer for this next example, I should share a little about myself for contextual purposes – I am a bit of a nerd, and enjoy all things related to swords, magic, dragons, treasure, wizards, elves, orcs, enchanting, etc. While I have never indulged in World of Warcraft (I’ve stayed away purposefully because I would thoroughly enjoy it) I have a thorough understanding of how the game works. First, the player creates a character as a sort of avatar of him or herself. Throughout the process of playing the game, the character develops relationships with other players and has the opportunity to join a guild. A guild is a group of adventurers who complete quests together. Essentially, a team. Well, every guild needs a leader – someone to set the direction, determine where to go next, or to organize the strategy to complete a raid on a lair of dragon eggs.

• If you imagine a stereotypical World of Warcraft player, you are probably not imagining a stereotypical leader. However – the leader of the guild, regardless of whether or not he or she is a leader in real life, now has the opportunity and desire to step up and say “I will” in the World of Warcraft. For a fun, classic example of World of Warcraft leadership, check out this video of a guild organizing dragon egg raid, only to have their efforts dismantled by someone who wasn’t paying attention.

• In my final example, I’d like to point to the students that I have the opportunity to work with on a daily basis. These college students have engaged in minimal training regarding their leadership development, but they have made the decision to take on some sort of responsibility, whether it is as a resident assistant, a community leader, or in any other club they choose to be a part of. While they are learning many things through these experiences, I believe the most important learning that they receive is the positive reinforcement after they have stepped up and said, “I will”. This is positive reinforcement that increases their self-efficacy… or simply put as the believe that, “I can”.

Weaved throughout these three examples of individuals stepping up to do the real “Leadership Challenge” is the conducive environment that fosters the comfort, desire, and ability of individuals to step up and say, “I will”. I think that an examination of what makes an environment that fosters leadership in others is a worth while topic for it’s own blog post – but if any of you have any thoughts post em in the comments section!

Thanks Renewing Leadership readers! It’s been real!