The Unchosen Expectation
Titles, authority, and visibility carry more than relative power. They carry great expectation. Leaders set the tone not just for business results, but for what is possible in all of life.
Your team is not following your strategies and directives in a vacuum. They are also following, even if subconsciously, your habits, your mindsets, and your behaviors.
Be they healthy…or not.
What you model becomes their permission slip.
NBA star and sports commentator Charles Barkley once famously tried to push away the unchosen expectation of being a “role model” for young athletes.
But when you are a leader, in any field, you do not get to choose.
If your position puts you in the spotlight, you are a role model. Kit and kaboodle. Not just in your “sport” – in all of life.
The question of the day for purpose driven leaders is: Are you leading a life worth following?
Not just in your vocational silo. Everywhere.
This responsibility requires serious intentionality. No excuses. No avoidance. You must be intentional and purposeful in your business, life, and faith journey.
You have to own it.
Healthy leaders understand this reality and act on it judiciously. They know they cannot call others to a higher standard than the one they live themselves.
That means committing to growth in every dimension: emotional, relational, mental, physical, skill development, thought leadership, and (particularly in the arena of my primary audience – the Christian leader) spiritual formation.
Anything less undermines your credibility, weakens your influence, and affects your witness.
Leaders who look beyond their natural niche and invest in holistic development across a broader spectrum of engagement lead stronger organizations, inspire deeper loyalty, and create healthier cultures.
Those who neglect this responsibility eventually lose the trust of the very people that count on them.
The stakes are high. Your people are watching. They are taking their cues from you.
You are a role model. You don’t get to choose. It comes with the territory.
Now, it’s your job to live with that deep awareness and do something about it.
Let me know if I can help. Humble, healthy, holistic leaders are my people, and I’ve dedicated the rest of my life to helping leaders like you reach the summit of their potential.
Blessings to you, my friends!
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This Week’s Resource Recommendation:
"The Leadership Contract: The Fine Print to Becoming an Accountable Leader"
- Dr. Vince Molinaro
From Amazon: The Leadership Contract provides the manual that leaders around the world need to step up and make the decision to lead. This edition has been updated, featuring new insights to help you chart your own path to build strong leadership accountability at a personal and organizational level.
Great leadership doesn't happen by accident, but it is the only differentiator between an organization's success and failure, and it has been entrusted to you. In this inspiring book, Dr. Vince Molinaro - bestselling author, dynamic speaker, strategic advisor, and global executive - shows you how you can implement strategy while inspiring peak performance, nurturing top talent, managing complexity, creating value, conquering uncertainty, and yes, developing new leaders. The Leadership Contract provides a proven and practical framework used by companies and leaders around the world. Join them and take your leadership to the next level.
MMS 25-37
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