Remember when you were learning to drive and your parents and the driving instructor told you, and continued to remind you, that driving is a privilege? No one is entitled to a driver’s license, but we can earn one and work to keep it by not violating the agreement we made when we earned our license.
Leadership is similar in that it is a privilege to be able to lead others and we must take that responsibility seriously. Responsible leadership looks like continuous learning, vulnerability, confidence without ego, accountability, positivity, admission of errors, and creating a culture where team members can grow and thrive.
The greatest leaders are those who treat their leadership role as the privilege it is. A privilege that is theirs to lose.
Unlike that driver’s license, though, when a leadership role is no longer treated as a privilege, there are no mandatory consequences or enforcement policies. There are also no black and white laws about being a good, responsible leader like there are about being a good and responsible driver.
Therefore, leadership is not only a privilege that requires work to keep but it also requires self-discipline to continue to treat it as a privilege. Without clear consequences and structured accountability, it becomes too easy for those in leadership roles to slip into thinking leadership is their right and something they are entitled to. That’s when the door opens for ego to creep in, for continuous learning to go by the wayside, for culture to crash, and for accountability to be tossed out the window.
The best leaders not only treat their leadership like a privilege, but they also have the necessary self-discipline and insight to maintain that perspective even when they could get away with letting it go.
Leadership is an exciting and rewarding privilege, just like becoming a new driver. As you go through your leadership journey do not lose sight of the fact that you need to hold yourself accountable to handling your leadership role like the privilege it is. Lose sight of that, or rely on others to hold you accountable, and you’ll find your leadership journey to be much more challenging and significantly less rewarding than it otherwise would be.
Leave a Reply