Links to other parts of this miniseries:
Everyday Leadership – Part 1
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 57 seconds
TODAY’S IDEA: Everyday Leadership-Part 2 
— From This Is Day One: A Practical Guide to Leadership That Matters by Drew Dudley
In yesterday’s post, we learned about the influence and impact that someone can have on us–and that we can have on others. It’s not difficult. On one hand, it’s simply a matter of doing our jobs with excellence. On the other, it’s a matter of noticing and acknowledging a job done right.
In his book This is Day One, author Drew Dudley focuses on the actions we can take to become leaders. Not heads of state, or corporations, or larger-than-life leaders (which is how most people perceive the concept of leadership, and that is indeed one way to see it); but instead, simply the very best version of ourselves to influence and impact our communities for the better.
And for this, he tells another remarkable story about one of his students named Aaron:
“Aaron had waited at his old bus stop for the man who had driven him to elementary school when he was a kid. When the bus pulled up, Aaron waited for the children to board and then stepped on the bus himself.
‘What are you doing?’ the elementary school bus driver naturally asked a 22-year-old.
‘Sir, you drove me to school for nine years,’ Aaron told him. ‘Back then, I was incredibly fat and really, really smart… I was bullied so badly [that I’d cry every day before leaving my house] … You’d pull up, and I’d sit up in the front because all the cool kids sat in the back.
And you’d sing Disney songs all the way to school, every day. And you were terrible, and the kids in the back mocked you constantly. You heard them and you never seemed to care. What those kids thought was so important to me and watching you not care about what they said about you–watching you just keep smiling and singing–on so many days, is what convinced me I could get through just one more day of their crap…
I go to Harvard for grad school next year. You’re as big a part of that as any person in my life. I never said thank you. I never told you you’re one of the greatest leaders I know’.”
While this story is absolutely beautiful and very moving, the most important lesson that Dudley derives is this (I left it verbatim since he writes it so eloquently and on point):
“We recognized [those leaders] in our lives once, but we did so because they had impacted us many, many times, and most of those times went unrecognized. Until we looked for those moments of leadership, we didn’t see them. Until we recognized they were moments of leadership, neither did the people who created them.
Most of the leadership on the planet comes from people who don’t see themselves as leaders. Aaron’s bus driver and the cashier I spoke with are examples of the world’s most abundant type of leader: people who impact others by doing more than what is expected. Those in this group often feel the jobs they do and the positions they hold don’t qualify for the title of a leader.
Leaders aren’t identified by their jobs, they’re identified by how they choose to do them. When you do your job and live your life in a way that impacts others positively, you’re a leader–whether your job is commanding an aircraft carrier or getting someone’s child home safely after school. Many people don’t believe that, so we need to tell them. In doing so we live our own leadership. The cycle continues–but we must be consistent at reinforcing it.”
Leadership, as most of us have been taught, is very narrowly defined and only reserved for those at the top. I love Dudley’s definition because it helps us see ourselves and others in a new, very positive light, and recognize that we can all make a change and impact in our corner of the universe.
Who has had an impact or influence on you? How have you recognized it? Has someone recognized your efforts? I’d love to know your thoughts! Please let me know in the comments here.
ACTION
TODAY: Take a moment to rethink your vision of leadership to include everyday leadership. Recognize and acknowledge yourself as a leader and recognize and acknowledge others as well.
FUTURE: Keep reinforcing the cycle of everyday leadership with acknowledgment and gratitude. We will build better families, better communities, and better businesses by doing an excellent job at what we do, and recognizing others for doing so as well!
Know someone who would like to read this great story of everyday leadership or the one from yesterday? Please share this post with them via email, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, thank you!