Very many people try to climb the corporate ladder. Ultimately when climbing the corporate ladder they find themselves in leadership positions. One obvious benefits of becoming a leader is that it is often accompanied by a pay rise. Also a leader gets given authority over people which some may take as a benefit. But are these the only benefits of leadership?
Money and authority are most definitely not the only benefits of leadership. They are not even the best of the benefits one can gain from being a leader. Probably the most rewarding aspect of being a leader is what is gained by the relationship with people that leadership can facilitate. Humans are social creatures so meaningful connections with other people ranks very high on our list of desires.
Leadership offers a fantastic opportunity to make a deep and meaningful contribution to another person’s life. When the leader manages to do this for his/her subordinate the subordinate will have a deep respect and gratitude towards the leader. This respect and gratitude of the subordinate is immensely rewarding for both. Think of the feeling you have when you really help someone and they respect you for it and show immense gratitude. What kind of feeling do you get?
Leadership done properly produces a deep and strong connection between people which is like gold-dust. This is a connection formed by respect and gratitude and is immensely beneficial to a human being.
I recently came across a beautiful example of this when I heard the Story of Joann Auret and Angelique Nel.
Angelique Nel works as P.A. for Joann Auret. They have an immensely strong relationship. There is a fantastic mutual respect between the two as well as shared gratitude in each of them for the contribution the other makes to their lives and the workplace.
Recently Angelique applied for a new position within the company but regretted the decision as soon as she had submitted her application. She realised that she really didn’t want to leave Joann and the rest of the team. She told me that Joann cared for her a great deal and had helped her grow tremendously as a person and had made her really loyal and dedicated to Joann. She was so grateful for the care Joann had shown her and the amount of growth Joann enabled in her that the thought of leaving Joann was really distressing.
What was really wonderful about this story is the way this event touched Joann. Joann herself told me that it felt really good to see this gratitude and love in Angelique. The gratitude, trust, and respect Angelique has for Joann showed its full face in this situation and naturally this was immensely rewarding for Joann.
In situations like this it becomes absolutely clear that the true reward of leadership lies in something other than the money or authority. The true reward of leadership sits in the magic that happens between people. The gratitude, respect, trust, and love that good leadership can produce between people is immensely satisfying and rewards a person in a manner that no material possession and no amount of authority can achieve.
Comments
3 responses to “The True Reward of Leadership Done Right.”
I have no doubt that when leaders do what they are supposed to, that is Care & Growth of their subordinates, they receive in return what is priceless: security, fulfillment, power and harmony.
One can never forget working for (and growing with) a good leader. Unfortunately these types of leaders are few and far between. I have worked for countless managers of people, but true leaders… only two. And to be sure I am in the minority to have even had this experience at all. How sad! What a different world it would be with true leaders in it.
Producing such leaders is the modern organisational challenge.