Do you realize that you’re a leader?
You don’t need to be a teacher, a boss, or an elected official to be a leader. You don’t even need to be an adult. You just have something about you that someone else wants to follow.
It may be the little girl at Halloween who looks to you for affirmation that she looks beautiful in her princess dress. She may not even be someone you know, but she’ll be looking up to you to let her know you approve and like what you see.
Or it may be the young boy on a makeshift baseball diamond who has never held a bat in his life, but wants to. You could be the one person to give him the encouragement he needs to try, whether you’re a coach, a parent, or someone in the stands cheering for both teams.
What about all the people you do know? Children always look to their parents to show them how to live and how to face life’s challenges. You can lead by example, sometimes taking the opportunity to explain why you do what you do.
Then there are those friends who want to be around you. They’ve noticed how you look, what you say, and how you act and interact. Some of them are even copying you because they like what they see and want to emulate you. (Bet you never thought of that!) I’ve even had some friends who dyed their hair red after I took that radical step.
Even when you think no one is looking, someone is always watching and learning from you. For those with families in the same house, that can be obvious. We can catch others looking at us, watching our every move, then doing the things we do. And kids can learn from siblings and extended family, not just Mom and Dad.
But what if you live alone? You still have social presence, which is always on even if you’re nowhere near the person looking at your posts and comments. And when you go out in public, hopefully, you’re showing the world what a fabulous person you are and how they can be fabulous as well.
There’s a quote in Christian circles that says it best: “Preach the gospel at all times, and, if necessary, use words.” That means that the world around us can know who we are and what we’re about just by watching our lives.
So, what do we do now?
- Lead with confidence.
- Lead with a smile.
- Lead with a positive attitude.
Just realize that, like it or not, to someone (or maybe a lot of someones) you’re a leader. So, let’s act like it!
