Find a Need...and fill it!

I felt the need to expound a bit on my last post regarding leadership being more than just a title. It’s easy to talk about leadership in theory, but leadership doesn’t exist unless it is put into practice. Leaders are not identified by the degrees that hang on their walls or an Ivy League school diploma - they stand out because of what they do. Leaders don’t accept the status quo - they look for needs and then they fill them.

Whether it is in your organization or in your community, you are surrounded by needs. Some of them are small, such as practicing patience with others, taking the extra time to talk about an issue or encouraging someone who is feeling anxious or unprepared.

Some needs, however, are much larger and will require a greater amount of our commitment and time. In most cases, it requires putting our own needs aside and deciding that our purpose is to help someone else or make something else better.

When we are caught up in our daily activities and tasks to be done, it is easy to become passive about the issues surrounding us. How many times have you sat in a meeting or listened to a conversation and thought to yourself, “there’s got to be a better way of handling this,” only to find yourself heading back to your desk afterward and deciding you just don’t have time to take this issue on? Or worse yet, you convince yourself that it is someone else’s problem. True leaders don’t define themselves by their job description. They choose to listen and act upon that voice in their head that says, “I can make a difference here.” This attitude exists in all of us. We just have to recognize it, decide to make it a priority and take action. And this takes discipline.

Personally, I have decided to commit part of my morning ritual to focusing on being open to hearing and looking for needs and filling at least one need everyday. Can you imagine the impact on the world, our industry, our careers and our community if everyone did the same?

Comments

[Joe Turpin]

Susan, this is a great Blog entry.

[Susan Schneider]

Thank you for the comment! I appreciate your loyalty in reading my blog.

[Marcus]

Well said, and thanks for the inspiration!