The Two Paths to Becoming a Leader – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

Being a bad boss will always be the easier road

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

My working life has been shaped by leaders who saw my potential and pushed me to develop it fully so I could put it at the service of others. They inspired me to chase my dreams, knowing I might leave, and they made me feel deeply valued. I’ve also had the good fortune to work with people who did the exact opposite. I say good fortune because, even in the worst circumstances, I’ve always learned something, especially what kind of leader I DON’T want to be.

To me, "good leader" and "bad leader" is a contradiction. Either you’re a leader or you’re not. Anything else falls under boss, foreman and the like. Many people and institutions have worked hard to define a leader’s traits, competencies and skills, especially now that whoever heads a company or team is expected to tap into people’s potential and multiply it.

Without trying to be exhaustive, and with my opening line in mind, I’ll describe a few qualities I believe a leader needs. The hard part of leadership starts with learning new things, building self-awareness, changing habits and behaviors, knowing your own beliefs, thinking about others and on their behalf, living by core values and, above all, letting go of ego entirely. Which raises the question: why develop all this?

Deep down, we humans value whatever brings us wellbeing, which often comes down to happiness and peace. Anything that disturbs a person’s peace and happiness, or works against it, hurts them emotionally and can set off a downward spiral that sooner or later takes its toll. One of a leader’s many jobs is to support a person or team on that front.

The complexity and responsibility of living up to being a leader explain why, when it comes to going from boss to leader, the law of least effort wins. The status quo will always be the easy road. Practicing values such as listening and empathy, making people feel secure about the worth of their work and contribution, and reading other people’s emotions all mean leaving your comfort zone and becoming vulnerable on the way to leadership.

Clinging to control, breeding a culture of fear, making others feel bad, never being satisfied with any deliverable and ignoring how a person or team feels will always be the easy road. Listening, delegating, trusting people’s potential, making room for mistakes, accepting feedback and growing others will always be the harder one. Yet it’s the road that lets us keep climbing the highest peaks and navigating the rough waters we face today.

In the end, both roads, the easy one and the hard one, can deliver the same results. Get there as a leader, though, and you’ve taken people into account, and you reach a point of no return once you see that results achieved this way last over the long run and always end well.

Warm regards and all the best,

Rodrigo Baccaro

P.S. This week’s VELA:

• Viewing: The power of prototypes. An example I shared with my Project Management students on the power of prototypes. Today, more than ever in agile environments, it’s a great tool for getting results fast.
• Listening to: The real relationship between age and the chances of success. A great podcast on how our chances of success grow over the course of our lives.
• Reading: The Song of Roland. A great epic and historical work. I first read it about 20 years ago. A few lines stand out: "An agreement isn’t valid without trust" and "Courage with good sense is no folly, and restraint is worth more than recklessness".
• Learning: How to lead a high-performing team. I’m a team coach, and I recommend this article on leading high-performance teams in an organization.

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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