Leadership...My Way

It has been asked of me, "Why is it you have such a low turn over of employees?" It was also recently said that, "I make managing look easy." I didn't have an answer to the question, nor did I have a response to the statement. I have never thought that I was great at what I do, however, if I based my results solely on numbers, like most corporate people do, I have been pretty successful. They say that numbers don't lie. I have just done my thing and let numbers fall where they may. I know that the numbers that I have produced is what those on the corporate ladder ahead of me see, but I don't manage number. I see myself as a leader of people not numbers. I think that sometimes people complicate leadership. I have been in a leadership position, by title, all but six years of my twenty-one years in retail. My vision of a leader has been to be the kind of employee that I would want to work for me. When I am that person, I am giving the employees the example that I want them to follow. Corporations want employees to buy into their vision statement. I don't think that the average employee cares about it. They care about what is happening within their particular four walls. How is what they are doing going to change their current situation? Most feel like they are not connected to much beyond their direct leader. People want to feel like they are apart of something bigger than their particular job, so, how can they contribute? It is the responsibility of the leader to make that happen. I would rather hire someone with desire than all the knowledge. If they have a desire to make an impact, they can be taught. It is much harder to re-educate and damn near impossible to create a desire that they don't have. Leaders are to be the example. I believe that people will buy into people before they will buy into a vision statement. I have seen vision statement come and go, but people have they ability to make a lasting impression in a way that words never will. Leadership is about confidence and creating the confidence that others need to have in you. People follow people that are leaders. If you are merely spewing guidelines and corporate rhetoric you are not a leader. Your are a corporate puppet. A leader understands people, believes in others, and makes others a part of the process. I have had the opportunity to help develop others beyond where they were and beyond where they thought they could be. People are drawn towards words but commit to people. Every time that I have left a store or company, multiple people have said that they wished I would stay or they cold come with me. It's not because of what I have said, it's because what I have done and how I made them feel. Be the leader that you would follow.

Dream Big...Pursue Big...Live Big