Watching_on_stage_m_698x400As a leader you will have a number of people watching you. I recall working for a small startup where I reported to 4 different leaders over a span of 5 years. After the first 2 leaders were dismissed my direct reports started making bets on how long the next leader would last. I don’t think that all the leaders were bad. However, sometimes the reasons for being dismissed run deeper than just pure performance. Quite often the key stakeholders are looking for change. Who are the stakeholders and/or followers that are watching you?

1. Family – Your spouse, children, siblings are all watching how you respond to life. Are you the family leader that solves problems?

2.Friends – Your friends decide if you are the “go to leader” when they are facing a crisis in their lives.

3.Community – The community will watch how you support the environment with your time, talent and treasure.

4.Direct Reports/Staff – The people who you lead are watching for inconsistencies. Many are supportive and want to help you succeed, others are waiting for you to crack like an egg, scrambling for chance to replace you.

5.Peers – Your peers will watch how you treat their leaders. Are you impartial?

6.Leaders – Your leaders will question, if you handle the pressures of leadership, mounting responsibility, and sacrifice. They will watch how other leaders interact with you and how you impact the organization as a whole.

People are always watching and they are not just admiring…some are modeling you. As a leader your responsibilities increase, your options decrease. In others words, your level of sacrifice increases as a leader. Your aim is to stay near the center of the bullseye, maintaining consistent behavior.

People are watching:

  • What you say and how you say it
  • What you do, and how you do it
  • What you don’t do and what you don’t say
  • How you look and what you wear
  • Your friends and your enemies

Remember, you are on stage. You are being watched and judged everyday by a multitude of people. So watch yourself.

Evaluate what you say you value and ask yourself, do my actions reflect my values? Are my values in alignment with what I preach to my team?

“A man cannot govern a nation if he cannot govern a city; he cannot govern a city if he cannot govern a family; he cannot govern a family unless he can govern himself; and he cannot govern himself unless his passions are subject to reason”

– Hugo Grotius