Choosing to Lead

I was reminded by a friend recently about the power of our choices. We choose who we are, how we show up, and how we experience the world. And leaders choose to lead. At any moment we can sit back and wait for someone else to step up - this is often the safer or easier thing to do - or we can choose to lean in, to support, to shape, to listen, to offer perspective, to draw in others. All of these are choices we make and each requires energy and is a sacrifice. So for all of you who are making that choice to lean in and lead, thank you! Consciously choosing to lead - and to become a better leader - is a noble choice.

The specific choices we make each day define who we are as people and as leaders. I believe that as human beings we are born a product of nature, we're raised a product of our environment, and we become a product of our choices. And any leader plays a role in that cycle for others. It's not the big choices that define us as people - e.g. what our career will be, where we buy a house, which job we take. Those have macro effects on the direction of our life of course, but they aren't the ones that define the quality of our life. The quality of our life is developed in the small choices: When we choose to be kind to the person that isn't around. When  we choose to give the benefit of the doubt to others. When we choose to help the person who's struggling. And those choices also begin to define us as leaders.

 The measure of any of us as a leader is who follows us and where do we lead them. The small choices we make affect both of these. Some of these small choices we make that matter most include:

• The choice to invest time into others, prioritizing them over the task list in front of us, listening and helping them see other paths.
• The choice of how we show up, bringing positive energy, hope, and possibility to a situation, regardless of how challenging it may seem.
• The choice of how we handle stress, managing healthy outlets for ourselves and learning to take time before reacting.
• The choice to trust and create space for others, giving them the ability to grow and take risks and make mistakes and in the process feel safe.
• The choice to assume positive intent, recognizing that most people desire to do good and make an impact and if their actions don't initially show that there may be more we don't understand.
• The choice to have patience with others, seeing the potential in them and not giving up too quickly.
• The choice to persevere, even when something or someone is particularly frustrating or exhausting.
• The choice to build others up, particularly when they are not around, including other leaders who may be working to establish their own trust and credibility.

There are hundreds of other choices we make that affect those around us. Simply being conscious of the reality that our impact and our influence and even who we are is defined by the choices we make, makes us better leaders. If you're reading this it's because you care about how you lead and the impact you make. Your work matters! On behalf of all the people you influence, thank you for choosing to lean in, for choosing to be conscious about your impact and for making the choice to lead!

"Points of Impact" is a weekly publication expressing thoughts on how we might approach our work differently to have a better impact on others and the world. For more related perspectives, check out Impact with Love: Building Business for a Better World.