What is your leader life story? Does the life story define your self-identity, your self-concept? In this blog, I discuss the role that life stories play in defining a leader.
So, I’m doing some research for a book that I have coming out. It’s a companion workbook for, The Crucible’s Gift: Five Lessons From Authentic Leaders Who Thrive in Adversity.
I was doing some deep diving in different topics that I want to bring out in the workbook, and this idea of the life story just jumped out at me. What spoke to me was the idea of four general life stories. As you read these, see if any of these reflect you and if so, I would love to hear from you in the comments.
The first leadership life story is one of the natural leaders. Are you someone who can tell yourself a story that over time you’ve always been in a leadership position? If you can, then that works out fantastic for you ’cause you are actually rarer than the norm at this point.
The second leadership life stories are the leaders who become a leader because of a cause, and so their life story is developed by the cause. A great example of this is Jay Scott, the Co-Director of Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Go here to hear the incredible story about his daughter who passed away with cancer, but that, that was Jay’s cause. That was his moment to become a leader. Jay found a purpose bigger than himself and this is his driving force.
The third leadership life story is based on experiences? Now, these type of leaders typically acquires experiences. They aren’t always seen as a natural leader. There’s usually a lot of failures in these experiences as well. Their natural life story is to become an authentic leader that is based on the idea of gaining experiences, by living in different places, or personally growing because of different contexts, and these really stretch them as individuals and helps bring on new ideas. It helps stretch their self-concept.
The last leadership life story is the one that speaks most to me. It is the idea of leaders’ life story through moments of struggle. So, in my parlance, that is about The Crucible. Leaders who lead based on their adversity are typically more compassionate, live more integrity, value deeper relationships, and love to grow. They often define the adversity for them, and not let the adversity define them.
I find the idea that we all have a life story in our leadership journey fascinating, and so I would ask you this week to go back and give yourself a bit of a narrative about your own leadership journey. Have you always been the natural leader who’s kind of been in those places at the right time? Are you the leader that came to be because of a cause, a moment in time that made you pivot and give you purpose and a mission? Are you a leader that learned based on successes and failures, or as I like to say, successes and opportunities to be more successful? Or, finally, are you a leader who really has developed out of your adversity moments? What is your life story?
Once you can figure out and attach yourself to a life story, then, and only then, will you begin to unpack your leadership style and develop your self-concept. Go to my website, www.drjameskelley.com to read more of my articles on leadership.
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