I heard an interesting story the other day of a CEO in a US company who had a special elevator installed which went straight to his office so he didn’t have to talk to the staff.

And then I thought about the TV show sensation ‘Undercover Boss’ (which I love btw) which is all about company leaders/CEOs going undercover to get to know staff at lower levels of the business and find out what is really happening in their organisation at the grass roots.

So with those examples in mind, here’s a few thoughts on leadership …

• Do we really need a camera crew and a disguise before we can find out what is happening in our organisation? Aren’t the best leaders all about theie people and realise that people are their greatest resource. Think about some of the best leaders in the world today.
• When you ask people that love working for their company, invariably one of the reasons they’ll say is that the leadership and management is amazing. Perhaps that they provided direction, that they listened and understood, that they appreciated their staff and they had strong relationships with the rest of the company. And if I asked you the same – think about the best team environment you’ve ever worked in and tell me why it was so good – I bet you’d mention the people and the leadership amongst your reasons for why that was such a great team / company also.
• It is funny isn’t it how some people see themselves above the rest of their organisation, whereas others are completely the opposite ? They mix and learn and have deep relationships with the people in the organisation. They are not ego driven, position driven or power driven. They are part of the team.
• Which leader would you follow into battle or sacrifice for – the CEO who has his own lift or the opposite ?

It brings me to a key point about leadership.

Leadership is about INFLUENCING others attitudes and behavior. It doesn’t have to have a particular style and you don’t have to have a certain type of personality. Quiet people can influence just as well as extroverts. Hands off leaders can influence just as much as inspirational leaders as much as hands on, involved leaders. The key is INFLUENCE.