(audio version available at the end of this blog)

This Success U cohort is vigorously and intently working on their self-prescribed primary and secondary goals.

Last week we discussed the importance of leadership.  It’s a word thrown around without many attempts at defining it.  Yet leadership plays an enormous role in whether we succeed more often or fail more often in our pursuit of our professional and personal goals.

So let’s define Success U Leadership.  Success U Leadership involves inspiring and guiding, primarily by example, the actions of others and of ourselves toward success.  Success is defined as goal achievement that raises our emotional and physical well-being as we avoid the crippling cycle of burnout.

There are three types of leaders, all effective, but only one conforms to our definition most of the time.

The “Right” Leader

The first type of leader ensures that their needs are met before those of their community.

This is the leader who says, “Right, let’s get on with the task(s) at hand and make stuff happen (for me).”

And this leadership posture has many other advantages. It’s solution-focused, efficient, and thoughtful.  However, it has damaging and very real disadvantages:  lack of trust, lack of collaboration, self-aggrandizement, and prone to the manipulation of others.

The Right leader does not satisfy our criteria for Success U Leadership for there is a tendency to shy away from inspiring and guiding others.  It’s about looking out for number one.

The “Knight” Leader

The Knight Leader swoops in and saves the day.  “I’ve got this one,” this leader will often say.  The community is more important than the individual.

And this leadership posture has many advantages.  It’s also about solutions, sacrificing for the common good, and looking at the big picture for the organization (or family).

The disadvantages can create a topsy-turvy life.  We help our way to exhaustion as we soon resent those we are always helping.  Then we retreat in anger or sadness when others are not pulling their own weight.  “Why can’t they figure it out for themselves,” we say or think, never contemplating how we enable dependency.

I have found myself in this place in both my personal and professional life.  I become angry and frustrated as I feel the need to solve the problems of all.  It becomes acutely debilitating when the act of helping is more about boosting my self-esteem and less about the simple act of selfless altruism.

So the Knight Leader is prone to burnout and that precludes them from satisfying our definition of Success U Leadership.  (And btw, the Right Leader can also burnout as going it alone is rarely effective (nor efficient) in the long term).

The “Unite” Leader

This leader understands and embraces the mutual interdependence of their world. (Thanks to a Success U student for this elegant wordsmithing.)

This interdependence requires both community and individual action.  This leader knows they can neither go it alone nor should they solve all the problems of those they trust and with whom they collaborate.

This leader practices what they preach.  Instead of jumping in and solving, an  encouraging and empowering environment is forged where people feel valued for  experimenting their way to the solutions they desire.

This leader understands the importance of both goal achievement and well-being and how short term gains at either’s expense are paid for heavily in the long term.

What’s the downside?  Few people lead from this zone and so they are often viewed as aloof or disinterested in the plight of others.  “Why aren’t you helping me,” people might say.  It’s a small price to pay as the benefits far outweigh the costs for the individual and the community.

So how do you become a Success U Unite Leader?  Well you have to take Success U to find out.  

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If you have any questions about coaching please feel free to contact me at scott@kineticcoaching.co, and remember I always offer a complimentary 30-45 minute session to prospective clients to determine if we want to work together.