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“Penalty of leadership: Leaders have to act differently than the others.”

 

Unknown

 

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I love this quote.

 

 

Supposedly it was first used in a Cadillac ad “The Penalty of Leadership” written by Theodore MacManus.

 

While it was a great advertisement (which outlines the challenges of being a leader) the line itself is awesome.

 

It is a great reminder for everyone in business.

 

And one I wish more business leaders and businesses would pay attention to.

 

Mostly because I find it nuts that leaders (I am referring mostly to businesses) forget they are the leaders when they actually attain leadership status. They seem to always stop in their tracks worrying about ‘the other guys’ (who quickly start pecking away at their business while the leaders are stopped in their worry).

 

They seem to forget that they didn’t really worry about the other guys as they worked their way to the top (they mostly worried about themselves and simply doing ‘the right thing’).

 

So.

 

 

The penalty of leadership is to ignore (that is a generalization but you get my point) everyone else and just figure out what the right thing to do is. And do what is right for you.

 

Oh.

And constantly change itself.

 

And by all that changing … you stay ahead. You, well, lead.

 

Yet.

Time after time I have seen business after business “come back to the market” in their actions out of fear of doing something different (“hey, let’s stick with what got us here” attitude). Oh. And “coming back” means only one of two things … going backwards or being stagnant. In either case, as others jockey for position (and trying to steal the leader’s share), the leader pays the ultimate penalty … they are no longer leading.

 

 

Sure.

Sometimes the fear is under the guise of “staying true to what made my customers join my family” (and the fear of losing them) and sometimes the fear is simple fear of change.

 

Anyway.

 

I imagine the last point to make here is … to become a leader you have to move to the front of the pack.  And once there you have to understand that ‘worry creates stagnancy’.

 

And stagnancy means everyone else catches up.

 

Remember. The penalty of leadership is to be different.

 

So quit worrying and go back to leading and acting like a leader.

 

Be different.  Shake things up on occasion.

 

Hey.

I know this isn’t easy (I am just bitching about the fact it seems like too many people/leaders are running scared).

Being a leader means that no one has shown the way.  You aren’t following some path.  There is some faith involved that the path you have chosen will lead where you want it to go. And all of those things are hard.  Really hard.

 

But.

You have to remember the penalty of leadership (acting differently) is actually also your reward.

It actually makes you impossible to follow let alone be passed.

Oh.

By the way. If you aren’t passed it means you remain the leader.

 

I guess all this said suggests that the true penalty of leadership is you never get to relax.

 

Aw.

What the heck.

If you are leading who wants to relax anyway?

 

Great leaders never lose the nose for leading.

 

The penalty to many of us in the business world? There are not many great leaders in today’s business world. So if you find one reward yourself and stick as close to them for as long as possible.

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Written by Bruce