Want to Be a Real Leader? Forget “You”

This LinkedIn article – Want to Be a Real Leader? Forget “You” – helps describe something that I’ve always tried to promote.

While I was a security supervisor, I told my officers that I should be replaceable. Basically, this meant that if I wasn’t on duty, the client (in contract security settings) shouldn’t be able to tell. I wanted every one of my officers to be knowledgeable and skilled enough to solve any problem that arose without having to call me…or worse the client.

This is important for a couple main reasons. First, this promotes strong customer service for the client. When they know they can count on the staff to handle issues, they may not take the cheapest bid when the contract expires. Second, it helps encourage officers to learn and grow for additional opportunities within the industry.

My martial arts school is the same way. It will survive only upon what the next generation chooses to do. My job is to provide the best education possible and make sure students understand what they have learned. This should lead to some wanting to teach or open their own branch school. The only way to truly become a leader in a martial arts school is to constantly work hard at learning the material and be readily willing to offer help to struggling junior students.

Something that many students don’t realize is that I only get to teach because they want to learn. The place where they train is THEIR school more than mine. When students look at this, I hope they examine why they are training. Yes, this is a question that I ask this question a lot but that’s because it i important. As they study, they should be looking at how the concepts help their daily lives and could be applied to their careers.