You Have to Want It As a Leader
At 17 years old, like most people, I was faced with the weight of the decision of what I wanted to do with my life. I thought about what I was good at and what I would enjoy. At the time I enjoyed the arts, playing an instrument and being in musicals, so being a music major felt like a natural choice.
What I was going to do with that major (and major investment) was another question. I wasn’t amazingly talented and I didn’t necessarily want to work that hard to be better. As a result, I ended up changing majors a few times and after four years of college I ended up with a lot of credits and no degree. At that point, I decided to pursue my career, albeit without a degree. Moral of the story: I didn’t really want it.
I didn’t understand the value of education at that time in my life, but I was wrong. After a few years in the real world, I quickly learned that achieving my goals professionally was going to require a degree. It was also one of my life goals to get an MBA by the time I was 30, so at 26 years old I was beginning to feel the clock ticking. This time, though, I did really want it and I was willing to put in the work to get it done.
At Navigate the Journey we work with leaders all over North America. Some of those leaders are doing the best they can yet they’re struggling with getting the traction they need to become a profitable company or creating a transformative culture with their team. The business case for why they need to, and should want it is clear:
• According to Harvard Business Review, over 80% of the competencies that differentiate top performers at organizations are in the domain of Emotional Intelligence.
• The Gallup Organization has found that companies with highly engaged employees can be as much as 21% more profitable. The same study found that only 15% of employees are “engaged.”
• In a study of thousands of companies and their executives, the Journal of General Management found that on average companies whose executives had higher levels of emotional intelligence are more likely to be profitable.
• According to the report “Leadership, Corporate Culture and Financial Performance” published by the University of San Francisco, companies reporting higher levels of transformational leadership practices are positively associated with long-term income growth.
Simply knowing that these things will make your company better isn’t enough to make them happen. Even hiring a coach isn’t going to do it. What it really comes down to is that, as a leader, you have to want it. You have to lead yourself first and push yourself to be a better leader so that you can lead your team to excellence.
Leaders are learners, and the inner desires of a successful leader should be:
• To be a more emotionally intelligent leader
• To be able to navigate crucial, difficult conversations with ease that result in healthier relational dynamics
• To understand your team’s personality, to treat them how you would want to be treated, and to foster great communication
• A culture of high accountability and high commitment
• An engaged culture at your company
You have to truly want these things. You can’t begrudgingly work on the symptoms of a lackluster culture. Instead, you have to have the inner drive, stamina, grit, and resilience to push through the obstacles you will face, because you will face obstacles. Truly wanting these things will help you push through those obstacles and develop the culture and results you envision for your company.
At the age of 26, I went back to school and I completed my degree in Business Management & Marketing and then went on to finish my MBA. It wasn’t easy. I was then working full time in a senior leadership role. I was married and mentoring a kid who was going through his own tough time. But I was able to overcome the obstacles that came up at that time because I had my eye on the prize and I was focused on my goal and doing whatever I needed to do in order to accomplish it. This time I truly wanted it!