I saw this great quote by Sheryl Sandberg: “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.” You can see the impacts that you have on people during the course of the day. But have you ever thought about how much you continue to impact them even when you aren’t there? Do they continue to leverage what you may have taught them? Do they take what they learned from you and share it with others?
Being a leader is such a great responsibility and it really is an honor. It is similar to the impact that teachers have on students. We all have teachers that supported us, encouraged us to do more, and changed how we thought about ourselves. Leaders do the same thing each day and make such positive impacts on people that can last their whole career. You don’t even know the ripple effect that your leadership has had on others. It has touched not only the leaders that you worked with, but it continues to have effects on the people that those leaders work with now.
People will share the impact that I had on them or remind me about advice that I gave them during a difficult situation that helped them along the way. That is always so great to hear and it reaffirms that being a good leader really makes a difference for other people. How can you make a positive impact on someone that you connect with today? What type of encouragement can you provide that would help them become the best that they can be? What if you did this each and every day? Imagine the difference that you would be making for all the people that you interact with both today and in the future.
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