I was elected to lead, not to read

There have been and will be a ton of people who will step into managing positions. I myself have done this recently, as the station manager of KFKX, but this has not been the only time that I have been considered the head honcho of a group of people. I mean in High School I was the football captain and was involved student government, I was an example, I would like to believe.

I have always been a leader by example. I am not saying that I have always been successful, just saying that is how I do it. Really when I think about the job that I am doing I always think of what I can do to make myself and the people around me better.

Over my Christmas break I was at home and got to enjoy being with my family and seeing friends, but and I know that this is going to sound so stereotypical little boy of me, but I really was glad to see my dad. So many things come to mind when I think about dad, but while at home we had a really good conversation that must have lasted about 5 hours. We had just played racquetball, he killed me. After racquetball however, he took me out to lunch, so we hit a Subway to get some grub. Once we had our meal we got to talking; you know father son time. Anyway, my dad has been a school superintendent in Center, Colorado for the better part of 14 years and there does not seem to be any signs of that changing anytime soon.

I asked him what he does to manage all of those people. Now, the words that he told me next I am going to remember forever. My old man told me that he surrounds himself with good managers, good people, then he leads them.

At first I thought well you manage all of those people. He kinda sounded like Jesus when he told me "I show them the way." I know my dad is not the reincarnated son of God, but damn is he noble. I got to ponder that for the whole break and still do, but this is my rendition of leadership now.

If I can show the people that work with me that working with me will lead them to new heights then that is what it is all about. Not just making sure that a person gets a project done, but inspire them to do more. This may very well be a chain reaction or domino effect; if I do things inspired then perhaps others will be inspired by me and others by them and so on. I am not claiming that I am going to change the world or every person that comes into contact with me like Captain Planet, or maybe that was a bad example. You get the gist though right?

It's not about managing, because that can just ensure that everything will be the same. You have to lead and inspire, because once someone has caught the inspiration bug there is no telling where or how far they will go.