leadership is not a ranked leadership is not a position leadership is a decision leadership is a choice it has nothing to do with your position in the organization if you decide to look after the person to the left of you and look after the person to the right of you you have become a leader sometimes you're the problem we've seen this happen all too recently with our new men of science and empirical studies these men of Finance who are smarter than the rest of us until the thing collapsed and they blamed everything else except themselves
and my point is is take accountability for your actions you can take all the credit in the world for the things that you do right as long as you also take responsibility for the things you do wrong it must be a balanced equation you don't get it one way and not the other you get to take credit when you also take accountability you want to be an elite warrior it's not about how tough you are it's not about how smart you are it's not about how fast you are if you want to be an elite
warrior you better get really really good at helping the person to the left of you and helping the person to the right of you because that's how people advance in the world the world is too dangerous in the world is too difficult for you to think that you can do these things alone if you find your spark I commend you now who you gonna ask for help and what are you gonna accept help when it's offered learn that skill learn by practicing helping each other it'll be the single most valuable thing you ever learn in
your entire life to accept help when it's offered and to ask for it when you know that you can't do it the amazing thing is when you learn to ask for help you'll discover that there are people all around you who've always wanted to help you they just didn't think you needed it because you kept pretending that you had everything under control and the minute you say I don't know what I'm doing I'm stuck I'm scared I don't think I can do this you will find that lots of people who love you will rush in
and take care of you but that'll only happen if you learn to take care of them first you will be told your whole life that you need to learn to listen I would say that you need to learn to be the last to speak I see it in boardrooms every day of the week even people who consider themselves good leaders who may actually be decent leaders will walk into a room and say here's the problem here's what I think but I'm interested in your opinion let's go around the room it's too late the skill to
hold your opinions to yourself until everyone has spoken does two things one it gives everybody else the feeling that they have been heard it give me gives everyone else the ability to feel that they have contributed and two you get the benefit of hearing what everybody else has to think before you render your opinion the skill is really to keep your opinions to yourself if you agree with somebody don't nod yes if you disagree with somebody don't not know simply sit there take it all in and the only thing you're allowed to do is ask
questions so that you can understand what they mean and why they have the opinion that they have you must understand from where they are speaking why they have the opinion they have not just what they are saying and at the end you will get your turn it sounds easy it's not practice being the last to speak that's what Nelson Mandela did remember this as you gain fame as you gain fortune as you gain position and seniority people will treat you better they will hold doors open for you they will get you a cup of tea
and coffee without you even asking they will call you sir and ma'am and they will give you stuff none of that stuff is meant for you that stuff is meant for the position you hold it is meant for the level that you have achieved of leader or success or whatever you want to call it but you will always deserve a Styrofoam cup remember that remember that lesson of humility and gratitude you can accept all the free stuff you can accept all the perks absolutely you can enjoy them but just be grateful for them and know
that they're not for you I remember getting off the Acela I took the Acela from New York to Washington DC and I got off the train like everybody else and I was walking down the platform like everyone else and I walked past general norty Schwartz who used to be the chief of staff of the United States Air Force the head of the Air Force and here I did you see a guy in a suit slapping his own suitcase down the platform just like me and just a couple months ago he was flying on private jets
and an entourage and other people carried his luggage but he no longer held the position and so now he got to drag his own suitcase and never did it sort of remind me more that none of us deserve the perks that we get we all deserve a Styrofoam cup leaders only have one thing they have followers a follower is somebody who raises their hand and volunteers to go where you're going they raise their hand and volunteer to go in the direction that you're pointing and so to lead others means that you have a cleared a
clear vision of a world that does not yet exist a world that could exist and by articulating that cause that vision that purpose over and over and over again it inspires people who believe what you believe who want to see that world built to join to go with you to figure out ways you know and so for me in my work what leadership means is articulating this world in which the vast majority of the vast majority of us wake up every single day inspired to go to work and come home every single day fulfilled by
the work that we do that doesn't mean we have to like every day you know but we can love every day you don't like your children every day but you could you but you love your children every day right and so the more I talk about this world that does not yet exist you because right now the world we live in the vast majority of people 90 percent plus don't love what they do they may like it but they don't love it when I talk about this world it inspires others who believe what I believe
and want to see this world built join up and figure out in their own way how to advance that vision so it becomes real I despise the fact lament the fact I cursed the fact that so few people get to say I love my job as if they've won some lottery you know you go out with your friends and some says I love my job and every because oh my god you're so lucky that to me is madness everybody the vast majority should get to wake up and say I love my job it is a
right it is a god-given right that we should love where we work and we should demand it we should demand that our leaders provide an environment in which we want to come where we want to care about about each other where we feel safe to express our vulnerabilities and our fears and our concerns that we're open to correction and discipline and feedback that we're not defensive because we know that it's being given to help us improve and grow and we want to improve and grow and in turn we will help others improve and grow because
when we feel safe when we feel that our leaders care more about us than a number they care more about our lives and our confidence and our joy in our skill set more than some short-term game that they care more about our priorities than the priorities of some disinterested external constituency then we will respond in kind and we will offer our blood and our sweat and our tears and we will make sacrifices of all kinds to see that our leaders vision is advanced and that this company continues to thrive not for them for ourselves it
becomes a deeply personal and become something we love contributing to I talk about it all the time working hard for something we don't care about is called stress working hard for something we love is called passion and I'm tired of listening to see using we only hire a passionate people what you know what that means how do you know that they're passionate for interviewing and not passionate for working you know every person on the planet has passion right we just don't all have passion for the same things give me something to believe in give me
something to believe in give me the opportunity to contribute to something allow me to make mistakes and try again and you'll have passion up the wazoo
