I attended the Global Leadership Summit (GLS) this year for the first time where the GLS speakers talked about how we were all leaders.

With leaders comes followers so, I was left to wonder how many leaders vs. followers are there? Is there a magic number of followers per leader? What happens if all of your friends are followers? Is someone then forced to lead who doesn’t want to lead? How does this whole leader thing work?

One takeaway that was reinforced during the Summit was the fact that we are all leaders because we all have influence in the lives of others.

Leadership = Influence.

I knew that all leaders had influence and I knew that we all influenced those around us. What I never really thought about before is the fact that because we all have influence that we are all leaders. You might be really good in one area of your life and you might need to ask for help in other areas. The later areas are the ones where you tend to be a follower.

Hmmm…we are both leaders and followers. Each one of us.

That idea was so enlightening to me. I don’t have to have greatness in every part of my life. Perhaps this is due to my perfectionist tendencies to want everything to be just right. Perhaps it’s because I felt leadership was a part of your personality and if you were to lead in one area that would be your strength throughout other parts of your life.

It also goes the other way. If you tend to think of yourself as a follower, you have no more excuses. You are a leader to someone because you influence someone in your life.

It all comes back to what we expect from ourselves and from others.

Personally, I’ve enjoyed letting go of some expectations I had of myself this past week. Things and responsibilities were given a different perspective. I feel more empowered in my strengths and okay in my weaknesses. I’m okay in my weaknesses because I don’t feel the need to lead where I’m not strong. This saves a lot of personal frustration and allows me to take a deep breath!

Time to evaluate your life. Where do you tend to lead? Where do you tend to follow?

Psalm 37:5 a says, “Commit your way to the Lord…”

What areas of your life do you need to own your own leadership? That of your family? Kids? Friends? Church? Work?

What areas of your life do you need to own where you follow? Are you allowing others to lead or do you step in to lead?

I pray this week will be a time of reflection for you; to lead or not to lead!

Until next time…

© 2018 Susan M. Sims

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