Over the last 25 or more years, I’ve had seven bosses. Each of them has shaped who I am as a person and a leader. Here are seven specific lessons I learned from each of my bosses:
- A great leader prioritizes the current conversation. I learned this from Tom. In my first intern role, he always took the time to guide me and answer questions. I had a bunch of them! When Tom had big projects to tackle and other higher priorities on his plate, he would still hit the pause button and give me his full attention. In that moment, I was his highest priority.
- A great leader develops new leaders. I learned this from Dan. He had worked in much bigger organizations, and he had many responsibilities as the “CEO” of our organization. That said, Dan gave me a chance to serve on the team and share the workload with people much more experienced than me. Every step of the way he also encouraged me to grow and develop leadership skills that would serve me well in the future.
- A great leader maintains integrity. I learned this from Bob. He was my first boss out of college. I witnessed Bob deal with challenging leadership issues. The hardest, of course, always involved people. Even when his job was on the line, integrity always prevailed. I learned that it’s possible for people to disagree with you but still respect you.
- A great leader connects the vision to stories. I learned this from Mark. He had a big vision, but he knew others would have trouble catching that vision unless it was connected to a story. He knew people would forget information, but they wouldn’t forget the story…especially when that story reveals truth.
- A great leader empowers the team. I learned this from Tim. He knew how to invite talented people onto the team and then empower them to use their gifts. It’s where I learned to find people smarter and more gifted than me and let them do what God created them to do. Along the way I discovered we should never do leadership alone.
- A great leader has a laser focus. I learned this from Perry. As any organization grows, the natural tendency is to push in new directions and take on a broader scope of services and products. For Perry, though, there was one mission–reaching 100,000 people for Jesus. When the mission is that focused, it’s easier to say no to anything that doesn’t align.
- A great leader models loyalty to his team. I learned this from Brian. Many leaders expect loyalty (and in the church they expect honor as well) from the people they lead. Few, though, recognize the power of modeling loyalty (and honor) to the people they lead. Brian does. He recognizes that this produces trust, and trust always lifts the spirit and the output of the team.
Photo Credit: Floris Van Cauwelaert via Compfight cc
