Written by Anna Kornilovich
Deniz Morrison, CEO of Campbell Soup, once said: “The task of the leader is to inspire and to motivate people.” These words, very accurately, determine what a leader should be.
Most people we will meet in our working life are professionals, so it sometimes might be very difficult to feel special among this big number of talented and successful people, to stay motivated for the work you have. But how is it possible to lead people in an environment where everyone has the basic skills to become a leader?
Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney said: “People do not like to follow pessimists,” therefore every good idea starts with optimism. Find your strengths and a job that brings you joy. Develop your skills over time and believe in your success. After all, everyone started out somewhere, didn’t they?
Working in a team of like-minded people will help improving your leadership skills. The ability to work in a team is the next step to being a leader. Great leaders are able to respect each team member and the overall work, to motivate others and get inspired by them.
For this, it is interesting to take a look at the story of Christopher Austin Hadfield, who worked within a team for most of his life. In his book “An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth” he wrote about the benefits of being a “zero” in a team which means to do exactly as much as required for successful work, not to harm the team, and not to stand out at the same time. At the initial stages of his work on the ISS, he himself adhered to this rule. Hadfield did what was required for the successful completion of the mission, he used his knowledge and abilities wherever he could be useful. Yet, he did not seek special recognition, it found him. The result of the whole team was a success for each participant and one will become a leader only when they learn to value the contribution of any participant equally.
The main thing in the process of becoming a leader is never-ending loop of gathering knowledge and improving your skills. Being a leader means taking responsibilities, being honest and ethical, committed to work and being able to motivate and inspire the team. This is a lesson I learned during the Summer Academy event lead by our Academic Leader George Begemann. On such a project the professor is the undisputed leader. Begemann said that he was able to learn a lot from participants, from students. Even though he was the leader of the project, he was able to find something special in each of us and learn something new. This gave us the feeling that we are leaders of our own sphere.
I mentioned 4 excellent leaders in this article but, there are many talented people in the world who are willing to share their knowledge. As John C. Maxwell said: “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way.” I hope I can inspire ESTIEMers to achieve their dreams with this article.
