I ran across a report today which identified leadership as the most reliable indicator of a nonprofit organization’s sustainability. This falls in line with what I’ve experienced, though I am always thrilled when my gut aligns with evidence!
I had the opportunity to speak for a couple of minutes at my MBA commencement, and I spoke to some of the lessons I had learned about leadership. I thought it might be nice to share these ideas with you all, to see what else you would add! So here’s an excerpt from my speech.
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I’d like to share some of the things I learned through my Ross experience that I suspect will be useful for the rest of my life, and hopefully will be beneficial to you too.
First, realize that the job of a leader is not to come up with the best ideas. It is to recognize the best ideas in the room. Although it can be difficult, try to use the same level of skepticism on your own ideas that you willingly apply to everyone else’s. At the end of the day, your success will be judged on the final product – not where it came from.
Second, never doubt the potential of the people around you. Brilliance will never be limited by race, gender, education or salary grade. Grant everyone the opportunity to discover a potential above and beyond their own expectations.
Third, recognize that there will be tradeoffs. You will never have an opportunity to do everything you’d like to, or be able to implement things perfectly. Recognize the tradeoffs you make, and be sure they don’t compromise your values or your dreams. At the end of the day, you have to be able to live with yourself.
Fourth, get involved. There will be many opportunities for you to add value to your workplace and to your community. Truthfully, you will likely get far more from this experience than you ever put in. Don’t wait until you have the time, money or status to do this. Start now; your community needs you.
Last but not least, be flexible. As business students, we are, in general, very goal-oriented people. Life, however, is rarely as straight-forward as we plan for it to be. Be willing to make the left turns when they come. Make sure you take time to laugh, enjoy the present, and give thanks even in the toughest of times for the many blessings you have been given.
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So what would you add? What would you alter?
Doing good better 