Becoming a Leader

Tom Dore

I’ve been involved in athletics for the last (I may need a calculator here) 48 years as an athlete, coach and announcer.  One of the things that athletes think we can do pretty well is adapt to most anything the coach or boss wants us to do. We can change what we’re doing and make it be exactly what that coach or boss wants.

What’s interesting in athletics is that pretty quickly you can size up who the leader on the team is and who the followers are. The leader is usually the best player, but not always. Watch most any sport, although basketball may be the easiest to spot the leader because the fans are so close to the action and you can see all of the interaction the players and coaches have.

What makes that person the leader and why do the other players on that team view him or her as the leader? And then the real question is how can you transfer what you see on the court or on the field, into your daily life? IS it possible for a person who is not a leader to make changes in their lives and become a leader when they have not been a leader.

A leader is first and foremost the hardest worker in the group. Back to Michael Jordan, and the championship years with the Chicago Bulls. In the beginning Michael led by example. He was THE hardest worker on the team every day and if you were not a hard worker he was a tough guy to have as a teammate. He’d do his best to be on the other team for every practice and he’d work you to death. For the guys who came to the Bulls expecting to just ride on Michael’s coat tails and win an NBA Championship ring, they had another thing coming. In the end he was also the vocal leader that you may remember, leading everyone including the coaching staff to three more championships after he had retired the first time.

Now let’s get back to how you can use this in your office, every day. To be a leader and to make a change in your life you have to become a hard worker. What that means is that when a few of your pals are at the water cooler talking about last nights game, you’re on the web looking up the specs on your competition’s newest gadget. So when you go to the 3 O’clock meeting you can talk about it and show what’s good and maybe what’s not so good. You can lead the group in the discussion on what changes you can make to your own gadget so that it’s better than the other guy’s. You need to have that information as soon as it comes out.

Being a leader means not checking your fantasy football league every hour to see if that running back you need so much was dropped. When you’re at work, just do your job. No matter what you’re doing for a job there should be plenty of time for putting your friend in jail on Facebook after your workday is over.

So if you want to be a leader you need to work a little harder, or maybe a lot harder. Let’s look at this a lot closer. By working harder you also need to be better prepared for each day, you need to read the trade journals before you start work, or look over the news in your industry on the train on your way to work.

If you want to be a leader you need to be on top of your industry and understand where the top people get their information, and find a way to get that information at the same time. With the amount of information on the web today you should never be in the dark about a new development. You need to spend at least 30 minutes a day outside of your office preparing for your job.

When I give my leadership speech, I’ll usually get one or two people who think I’m nuts and tell me so. “Why would I want to do my job when I’m not getting paid to work?” “Once I leave the office I don’t think about it until I get back in there the next day AND I’ve had my first cup of coffee and checked my email.”

I just laugh. They are the ones that will never change and can’t see the need to keep working after the workday is over. If you want to move up in your company and you want to be viewed as a leader, then act like a leader. Be the one that people come to with questions. Think about that and I’ll talk to you on Friday. Do something fun this Thursday. Take 15 minutes and do something that you haven’t done in several years.. and have fun. 15 minutes. Thursday. Let me know what you come up with.

Tom

For more on my speaking engagements and how to be a leader please visit my Website   https://tomdore.com

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