'Be a zoo keeper, always open the zoo.'
At the time of writing, this was a thought of who I am when leading others. Who am I when in situation when I am required to work with or deal with others. But, at no point did I consider the person I am when leading myself.
Weird thought, but we lead ourselves 24/7 and we're the person we want to be.. but do we consider how we wish to lead ourselves on a daily basis? Probably not.
May be a straight forward thought and clear common sense, but a leadership philosophy should resist and pull into all 'leadership' scenarios, so possibly all day everyday?
As stolen from a friend, 'coaches are role models whether they want to be or not.' [or words to that effect] I'd go as far as, we're all role models whether we want to be or not. At any moment, people are watching us. Just thinking about the small things we unconsciously copy from others, we're being leaders all of the time.
So, this philosophy, is who we are and what we live on a daily basis.. it just so happens to be based and ignited around what we class as 'leadership' scenarios.. typically leading others.
But leading the self, that's quite a difficult job.
Recent weeks/ events have led to think and know, that I have to be a zoo keeper all the time.. and sometimes the zoo is myself. How do I open and present myself? What does the SN Zoo - which I think describes it rather well - look like to the visitors who I come into contact with on a daily basis. And to me.
This is getting a little too deep, but I guess that's good. How I look after myself, when nobody is looking is just as important as the person I am in-front of anybody in any scenario.
If I don't look after the personal zoo, that's going to restrict the ability to look after a group of people.
I think that, I need to stop thinking of leadership as something which needs to involve somebody else.. because it doesn't.
Just like the phrase, 'how can other people believe in you, if you don't believe in yourself.' I guess you cant lead other people, if you cant lead yourself.
Food for thought. If I was to publically display the way I treat myself - leading the self - would that incur the response I would want if I were to lead others in the same way? A very honest question, and one I don't like the answer to.
This week I have been told, 'expectation is the mother of all frustrations' and know I put the bar well above my head for standards and judge myself and respond to that in a way I would to nobody else. Why? have I become accustomed to it? Am I willfully blind to the effect it has on me? I think so.
If I were to lead others the way I lead the self, nobody would ever want to follow.
Something's not right.
