Uy: Leadership

I’ve been fortunate enough to have mentors and teachers who guide and help me make responsible, semi-adulting decisions about my life. And the scariest question I often get asked is “Who are you mentoring?," simply because the video game and professional wrestling-loving side of me refuses to believe that I have the capacity to teach anyone, let alone younger kids.

However, after attending two 35th anniversary parties in a span of two weeks, I have recently come to see that leadership and mentoring is more often caught, not taught.

See, all these pioneers and mentors who came before us probably didn’t have a clue what they were doing when they started out—encouraging news for someone like me who feels the same way most of the time.

But they kept on and on, regardless of the hardship, and persevered to help make their institutions last as long as they do. It’s not what they say (which often gets forgotten two days later) but what they do that causes people to be magnetized and want to follow them and their vision.

I had always thought leadership meant perfection—becoming a flawless, upstanding paragon with no hint of weakness. And then I really got to know the stories of these pioneers and realize that they too had their quirks and character flaws. And yet people still follow them to this day despite that.

It was a secret no leadership book or seminar ever taught me: If you have a vision and commit to it despite the wrong decisions you make along the way, people will be willing to forgive you when they see your tenacity and grit.

I confess that I think I would make a lousy leader simply because I don’t fit the typical leadership “mold”—a strong, forceful, type-A character who causes oceans to split apart when he raises his hands.

And yet the more I talk to people, the more I realize that there’s more than one way to lead and motivate people. Some of the mentors I respect are those who work and find ways to be better versions of themselves without raising a fanfare. And it’s from them that I find the most profound and astute advice.

More importantly, I see in them an example I can replicate, a style of leadership that could probably become mine should I take the leap and open myself up to more responsibilities in life.

In what way are you embracing leadership in your life? And who is a leader in your life that you are listening to?

Trending

No stories found.

Just in

No stories found.

Branded Content

No stories found.
SunStar Publishing Inc.
www.sunstar.com.ph