Business Tools Blog

Recently, BearonBusiness.com published a series of posts on Why am I doing this? This jogged my memory … Dan probably doesn’t remember the meeting where he taught me about leadership.

About 8 years ago, I was sitting in a meeting called “Breakfast with the Bear”.   “Breakfast with the Bear” was a meeting where 7-10 randomly chosen team members (not management) would meet with Dan (aka the Bear) and share thoughts on anything from the economy, the company, management, product ideas, etc.  The meetings were pretty relaxed and folks asked very good questions and provided feedback.  This meeting wasn’t any different, but I will give you context.   In the early 2000’s, the Telecom Industry was in Meltdown.  Stock prices were at rock bottom, and folks in the meeting seemed pretty discouraged.

We were about 30 minutes into the meeting when a product analyst said, “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?”

Dan smiled warily, “Go ahead.”

“How do you stay motivated when the stock price is down, prices are dropping, and layoffs seem eminent?”

Dan didn’t pause for even a second before he answered (I am paraphrasing),

“I really enjoy working for this company.  I believe in what we are doing.  If I didn’t believe in it, I wouldn’t be here.  If our CEO told me that the company couldn’t afford to pay me, I would still come to work, just to make sure that we achieved our vision.”

The room fell silent.  It was apparent that his words were sincere.   Who wouldn’t want to work with or for a leader who had such clear convictions?

I had an epiphany that day, it became crystal clear in my mind, what traits a leader possessed.

• A leader isn’t selfish, he/she works for the greater good - for the team and for the organization
• A leader has very clear convictions
• A leader is someone who is sincere, someone you can trust
• A leader is someone who inspires
• A leader is someone you want to work with

I think everyone should aspire to be a leader in the organization.  You don’t have to be a manager to be a leader.  You also don’t have to give up your paycheck … but you should ask yourself, if I could afford to give up my paycheck, would I still be working to achieve the vision?  If not, why?