Leadership and commitment
We are what we do with what is done to us.
J.P. Sartre
What else can be written about one of the most controversial topics of all times? How many thousand phrases have been written to explain why people become leaders? Thousands of MBA classes tackling the same questions: What do Gandhi and Hitler have in common? What is a leader? Leader or boss? Leader or coach? Team or individual leadership?
Whatever might be underlying behind this (or these) mysterious circumstance(s), the leader issue has a big impact on our daily lives. We know that labor relationships, generally with our superiors, represent the main reason why we leave a company. We also, increasingly more, expect people who have senior positions to show ethics and commitment towards things we believe in. This is one of the main factors that explain job mobility as well.
So, how can we not try, over and over, to decipher the secrets behind an issue that may have such a big impact on our lives? Something which is so difficult to explain and, at the same time, that is so relevant for our society. I personally consider there are two key topics regarding leadership: language and our commitment to it.
A great teacher I had said that we lived times where we try to explain everything as a consequence of the impact of language. As a kid brought up in the 90’s, I cannot be outside our times and our interpretations. So, fully aware of my generational bias, I will claim that what mostly defines leadership is the generative capacity of the language. While we speak we are not describing events that happened or that “are” in such a way, but rather, we generate a new reality, we create a new world. This is one of my favorite talks on this topic.
Leadership, consequently, has to do with the commitment to our words and actions; it is not restricted to some but it actually belongs to everyone. Becoming aware, having the courage to be responsible of the impact that we produce on others, is undertaking our leadership and, in my view, it is a responsibility of every single member of a society. You will very likely look a person into his/her eyes someday and say “I love you”. That person’s life will change, just like yours will. You can even wonder if that person wants to stay with you for the rest of your life. Or maybe you end up having a defenseless little being in your arms looking up to you in search of an example. Or you will work in teams and see a workmate who has hardly any motivation at all. Or you will be asked about someone who used to work with you and you will give some feedback. What you say, what you choose not to say, the way you do this, everything will have an influence, it will generate a change in the others and in you.
Being aware of the impact of what we do and say, that we change the world around us with our decisions, was my deepest and most important learning from all the discussions about leadership.
