What Is The "Right" Way To Do Leadership?

Many people want to improve their Leadership, and most of them ask the same question.

What is the "Right" way to do Leadership?

Of course, it isn't always "worded" like this.

Some people say, "How should I improve communication with my team?"

Or something like, "What should my 5-Year Plan look like?"

There is also the famous, "What's the best way to market our product/service?"

These types of questions are all variations of trying to figure out how to do things "Right".

I've got a secret for you -

There is no such thing as a "Right" way!

The longer you ask these types of questions, the harder it will be for you to Lead for a few reasons.

The Confidence Problem

The first issue you run into is with Confidence.

When you constantly ask these types of questions, your confidence will become damaged.

As you ask these questions, you are indicating that "you" don't have an answer, so you have to go "seek" out an answer from someone else.

Often, whoever you go to to "give" you the answer can't give you a good answer!

None of them know your business, or your team, as well as you do.

None of them know your industry as you do.

None of them are as talented at what you do as you are (if they were, they would likely be trying to do what you do).

At the end of the day, they can't give you the confidence you're seeking (even if they "tell" you they can with confidence).

This then leads to you attempting to do what they tell you, and it doesn't work!

It wasn't your fault it didn't work, but you will feel like it must be your fault.

Which will then hurt your confidence.

On top of this, the more you "fail" at finding the "right" answer, the more evidence you are giving your brain that you indeed don't have the "right" answer.

Your brain is fantastic at providing you with proof for whatever you tell it to look for.

If your question is focused on how you currently "don't" have the right answer, it'll find EVERY little piece of evidence to prove that to you.

As this happens, your team will also "feel" the fact that you don't have confidence.

It's a function of our Neurocardiology, and a protection measure that our bodies utilize.

This will lead to your team losing faith in you, avoiding working hard (why would they work hard on a plan that you have no confidence in?), and over time your best team members will leave looking for a more confident leader.

These factors will compound further, leading to more failures, more seeking answers from people who can't give them to you, and you will end up with even less confidence.

The Copycat Myth

The other problem with this comes from "seeking" the "Right" way to do something.

When you are looking for a "Right" way to do something, it implies that there is a "singular" way to do things.

So you will seek out people who seemingly are doing it "Right".

(In truth, few people are doing "anything" well, leading to 96% of businesses failing within 10 years)

When you find these people, they will tell you, "Do it like this!"

You'll try to do it like them, ie "Copycat" their methods, and it will fail.

This occurs for many reasons.

The most obvious is that YOU are not THEM!

You never have been them, and you never will be them.

This is a good thing though!

You don't WANT to be them!

As a Leader, your best chances of success come from being YOU!

The more you try to be someone YOU aren't, and do things in ways that don't feel right to YOU, the more you will fail.

When we aren't true to who we are, again through our Neurocardiology, people will "feel" that something is off.

This will lead to a lack of trust, which leads to the destruction of teams and businesses over time.

The other problem here is that only ONE person or business ever gets recognized as the "best" for any specific thing.

This is true of products, services, and even people.

Every single time you try to do anything like "someone" or "something" else, you automatically become a lesser version of that person or thing.

You will be seen as a lesser "Copycat," and the only path for copycats is a battle for the bottom of the bucket.

The Solution

The solution to this problem is simple.

You need to ask different questions!

First, recognize there is no "right" way.

Some things may be more "optimal," but you won't know that until AFTER you start doing different things.

So a better question would be, "What can I try next?"

This gives you both the recognition that there will be future things to try and permission to be imperfect.

You can also ask, "What options do I have?"

This allows you to be creative instead of fearful, leading to better ideas overall.

Another great question will be, "How can I make this work for me?"

Looking at other "ways" of doing things isn't necessarily bad, but "copycatting" is.

However, if you "Adapt" ideas to your style of Leadership, you can have confidence that you are still being you, and that goes a long way in Leadership.

One of the best ways to improve your Leadership is to become a better version of yourself.

That is why being an "Exemplar" is a key component in becoming a Legendary Leader - you need to be a shining example of YOU!