When we think of leadership, we usually think of politicians, executives, or bosses in our workplaces. But did you know that you are also considered a leader in your own way? In an episode of Breaktime Breakthrough on Plus Network, organizational leader and coach Frances Acu talked about servant leadership and how we can lead, influence, and make an impact in other people’s lives.
Acu says that there are many different definitions of what a leader is, and that it is not only confined to one’s title, power, authority or their popularity. However, she adds that not every leader is a manager and not every manager is a leader. Acu quotes author, speaker, and pastor John Maxwell, who said that “leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less.” Because everyone has some level of influence, then everyone is a leader.
According to authors Ken Blanchard and Phil Hodges in their book Lead Like Jesus, “anytime we influence the thinking or behavior, or development of someone, we are a leader.” Blanchard and Hodges identified two types of leadership: organizational leadership, which are those who hold official positions and titles, and life role leadership, which is when we lead as a parent, spouse, sibling, child, and as a friend. And it is our life role leadership which lays the foundation for our organizational leadership.
Acu adds that before we can lead others in the workplace, we first need to lead well at home. She shares her experience as a mother, which she considers to be a gift and responsibility to influence the way her children grow up. She understands that anything she does today will make an impact in their lives tomorrow. The way she interacts with them, talks to them, teaches them, loves them will all influence the kind of people they’ll grow up to be.
She quotes the book MOTIVATE by Peter and Deonna Tan Chi, which discusses eight important tips to successful parenting. The first tip, she said, is modeling, which is when children imitate their parents. While many parents tell their kids, “Do what I say, not what I do,” they know that their children will do that they do, not what they say. That’s because the biggest way for parents to influence their kids is still to model the right way.
This may also be applied to the people around us. It’s not the big things, but the small things that really make an impact in their lives. What we do on a daily basis, how we take care of our family, work with colleagues, interact with friends, and how we act to strangers will determine how we influence, lead others, and the impact that we can truly make in their lives.
With this in mind, t’s important that as leaders in our own right, our words and actions should be inspiring to others and should make a positive impact in their lives. For more stories about professionals, visit PLUS Network on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
