Leadership is a habit, not a personality trait

TLDR: Marketing and leadership are inextricably linked.

Marketing, by its nature, creates change. A leader is the catalyst for change.

By developing the habit of noticing how things could be, marketers will be presented with a multitude of opportunities to lead and make positive change for their customers, organisation and themselves.

Reading time: ~2.5 minutes

Leadership is seeing the possibility for better

For a long time, I’ve had a challenge with the term “leadership”.

It’s a loaded term and conjures up imagery of alpha types in expensive suits telling people what to do.

But real leadership couldn’t be further from this.

Where “traditional” leadership speaks to power, dominance and ego, real leadership is about imagination, empathy, and generosity.

But surely this “soft” stuff is just fluffy nonsense!

No. This is the hard work that matters.

If we define leadership as seeing the possibility for better and bringing it into existence, then the first step in leading is seeing the world as it could be.

A leader defines what better looks like.

You’ll see the possibility for better everywhere

Once you adopt this lens (and I hope you do), as a marketer, you’ll start to see possibilities to lead all around you.

This could be:

- A KPI to improve
- marketing’s relationship with sales
- The way your brand is perceived in the market
- Your CEOs appreciation of the marketing function
- or maybe it’s getting the new starter with lots of potential to believe in herself more

Whether the change is big or small isn’t what’s important.

What’s important is that it matters. To you. To those who the change impacts.

Leadership is a habit, not a personality type

If there’s one thing I hope you take away from reading this, it's that leading is a habit, not a personality type.

The habit of defining better, and then using the tools of leadership to manifest it.

It’s a practice.And while anyone can do it, not everyone chooses to. Why? Because it requires bravery, vulnerability and being seen.

Leaders choose to put themselves on the hook. They speak up.

As Seth Godin would say, they make a ruckus.

So, now that you know all of this, what will you do next?Will you stay in the shadows and ignore the possibility for better that you’ll no doubt start seeing?

Or will you choose to step forward and engage in work that makes positive change for you, your organisation and your customers?

Your Action:

Look around. Where do you see the possibility for better?

You might be tempted to list several things. Don’t. That gives you a place to hide.

Just pick one. And take one step forward today in making that change happen.

This is a practice. A muscle to develop.

And maybe you’re not aware of this, but you were born to do it.

The most important part is getting started. So start today.

Read this to go deeper:

The Art of Possibility (Ben Zander and Ros Zander)

Next time:Don’t miss the next newsletter, The Immutable Strategic Hierarchy (and how it makes you a better marketer)