Lonely at the Top
By Doug Sterbenz, Must Be Present to Win
It’s natural and the way it should be. Accept it, but don’t let that fact of leadership impact your effectiveness as a leader! There is help for you.
Real leaders don’t buddy around with those that they supervise. They do more than that. Being the best friend to the people whom you control evaluations, promotions and compensation is a slippery slope that always leads to disaster. They don’t need another best friend, they need a leader. Being their leader doesn’tmean you can’t be friendly. Leadership does mean that we cannot be one of them.
We leaders do have to be connected to those that follow us. What’s a good way to be connected with those we lead? Be Present, Physically.
How Do I Fight Loneliness?
Be present physically by going to where the followers are. A walk around the shop floor, the design lab, the operations center, the loading docks and the back-office cubicles demonstrates to your followers that they are more important—at least in that moment—than everything else back in your office.
If you want to be accessible, create trust and communicate effectively; be physically present.
Don’t be their best friend. Be their leader. Connect by being Physically Present.
Take a walk like you have never done before.
If you are wondering where to start, check out the new book, “Must Be Present To Win.”
It can transform your effectiveness. It can magnify your influence. It can change lives, including your own.
