Leadership Isn't Always Fun

I recently attended an event focused on leadership. The event featured speakers who focused on the touchy-feely aspect of leadership. Words like inspire and empower were used frequently, paired with power points containing images of impressive mountain ranges, and beautiful seascapes.
There’s no doubt that good leaders inspire and empower, those are words I know I’ve used frequently in this blog. However, the presentations at this event made me think more about the reality of leading and how it isn’t always as pretty as those presentations made it seem.

Leadership is stressful. Leadership means more work, more responsibility, more people to answer to, more people to watch you screw-up and tell you about it. Leadership means running the risk of possibly changing things for the worse. In my limited experience, leadership most of the time is scary.

BUT, feeling uncomfortable is usually a sign of growth. Responsibility encourages productivity, and failing is learning. And there are moments when it’s really fun. The times when you see your decisions having a positive impact, times when all the extra work results in success, times when you shock yourself with how much you can accomplish.

So when I think of leadership, majestic mountain ranges and instants of awe are not what come to mind. It’s people who are willing to deal with all the stress of leading, and the scariness of failing, because they want to have a positive impact. The people willing to lead even though it’s not often fun. These people can be found everywhere, in every age group, and in every profession. That, is what is inspirational about leadership.