I just came back from the World Domination Summit, a 2-day party with 500 of my closest friends.
Looking around the ballroom, everyone gathered & buzzing with excitement (and coffee, it is the Northwest after all!), it was clear to me that there were only 2 types of people in this room:
- Leaders
- And those on the cusp of becoming leaders.
That’s one exciting revelation for me. I really wanted to run on stage, grab the mic, and tell everyone what amazing leaders I saw sitting around me. I didn’t…. maybe next year, Chris?
Last week, I spoke with Sinclair about a lack of leadership in the entrepreneurs around me. They’re struggling to find their voice, struggling even more to be heard, and therefore struggling with cash flow. She agreed: a major stumbling block in making a business work is accepting your role as a leader to others. It’s less that entrepreneurs are not leaders and more that they haven’t owned their own leadership yet.
Becoming a leader can be frightening. It means your opinions are trusted, your ideas are given weight, your voice is heard. That’s a lot of responsibility! But offering a product for sale or guidance for hire carries the same weight. You can’t avoid the responsibility and, if you try, you end up feeling a bit trampled.
If you’ve abdicated your position of leadership as a business owner, you probably have a difficult time prioritizing your work, you feel like you have to shout to be heard, and what little communication you receive is generally in the form of polite encouragement instead of cash. When you don’t act out of leadership, you feel subject to the flow of the system instead of a driver on your own wide open road. When you haven’t accepted leadership, you use qualifiers like “I think,” “in my opinion,” and “maybe” instead of unequivocally owning your beliefs.
Do you want to be qualified or do you want to be amplified?
When you accept your own leadership, your voice is joined by those who trust you and by those who support you. You are no longer listened to – your word is acted upon.
Being a leader isn’t about how many customers/followers/friends you have, it’s about shining out of the dark.
Being a leader also isn’t dependent on what your business is about. You can lead from any industry at any level, it’s a mindset not set of qualifications.
Accepting your role as a leader allows for your art – your voice – your change-making to be witnessed.
You, my friend, are at the cusp of a new dawn and we need you as a leader in this new day. We need a jolt of your power and a taste of your juice. We need you to bring forward new, crazy ideas. We crave your voice & vision.
Will you step up? Will you show up?
I’ll be speaking more about this & a whole lot more at Profit Catalyst in Portland in a few weeks. This event – organized by Sinclair & also featuring the brilliant Charlie Gilkey – will be like no other and the good news is you don’t even have to catch a flight to attend. Sinclair is offering a simulcast version (watch with us live!!) of the full event so that you can get activated, catalyzed, and edified about doing business in the 21st century right from the comfort of your very own home.
To get all the details on Profit Catalyst – both the LIVE and SIMULCAST versions – click here.
PS The first 10 peeps to click the link above AND register for the Profit Catalyst simulcast will also receive a free 1 hour coaching session with me to be used between August and September 2011 (a $200 value). This is a great way to follow up on what you learned and grab one-on-one help where you need it most! So click here and get registered.
