Recently I have been thinking about the concept of leadership. I wanted to share a few lessons that I have learned from leadership over the years. I know there are still a ton that I have yet to learn and I’m eager to embrace them as they come along. So here are a few random thoughts on leadership. They may seem a bit radical, but sometimes the craziest ideas actually work.
1. Leadership is high risk, high reward, and high cost
One of the best examples I have of this concept (which is really nothing new to anyone) comes out of my stent as the Honor Guard Commander for Civil Air Patrol in the state of Georgia. I didn’t ask for the position, it kindof just landed in my lap one day after the current commander stepped down. At first, leading an Honor Guard was easy. We had about 5 people from my squadron that served on the guard and that made things easy. But as I began to lead, I realized that there were so many other cadets that would probably love to do this thing. So we opened it up to the whole wing. A few months later I found myself in front of about 30 cadets. They weren’t all the model cadets, most of them were the people that didn’t have a place in their unit. Somehow, I ended up with all of these cadets on what was supposed to be the most professional group of cadets in the wing. They represented everything that Civil Air Patrol represented and now I had to make them into these professional, high standards cadets. I honestly had no idea how I was going to do it.
I remember thinking in the early days that I had gotten in way to deep. I wasn’t ready for this challenge. It was through these cadets that I learned the most about leadership, integrity, and how to care for others that no one else did. I was under pressure from the wing to make this program succeed, but I knew I couldn’t do this on my own. With the grace of God and some watching of the cadets, I selected 4 to serve on my staff. They weren’t cadets that my superiors thought should be on staff, let alone on the guard, but I believed in each of them.
Through that belief, I was able to see passion come alive. I took risk in giving them task that had to be executed perfectly and I still smile when I remember how they took those task and accomplished them like a boss. Those cadets were some of the most outstanding kids I have ever served with in my life. The band of ragtags became one of the closest group of friends and the most professional kids you have ever seen. All I did was take a risk and believe in them. Thats where I learned one of many life changing approaches to leadership: If you believe in your people, they will fail you, but they will work their butt off to do better and rise above your expectations.
Yes, this took a huge risk on my part. I risked my reputation, my status, my position, and at times even my relationships with others because I believed in these cadets. I smile just thinking about how proud each of them made me, and even today how I am still proud to call them friends. Leadership is a high risk, but high reward job. Sometimes the risk is much higher than the short term reward, but the long term reward is totally worth the risk.
Leadership is also a high cost business. Not only does it cost you money (I don’t even want to count the amount that I spent while commanding the honor guard), it cost you reputation, friendships, sleep, personal time, and even parts of your sanity. I spent days and days organizing, planning, calling, talking, and working on things for Honor Guard. Countless hours spent on the phone with cadets talking with them about their lives (something that most people believe leaders shouldn’t do) and even talking some out of suicides. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I did learn that leadership is not for the weak nor the faint.
My leadership on honor guard also taught me what I believe is the greatest lesson that a leader can ever learn (I’m sure one day I will learn something that is even more monumental than this, but for now, this is my earth shattering discovery). I learned that when push comes to shove, the people above you don’t really matter.
I’m not saying that they shouldn’t matter as people, but when asked to make changes that will hurt your subordinates, a leader stands up and fights. A leader protects those under them, not because the leader has something to prove or anything but that the leader cares for their people.
I remember when I was faced with a choice that would have kept me in good graces with the powers above but I would have had to sacrifice about 10 of the cadets on my honor guard. The new rule would allow me to keep my position but make limitations for the others. I would get to keep my nice title and probably wouldn’t even miss a beat, but those kids would. I spent days thinking about every possible outcome but in the end I choose to say that my cadets were more important than the wishes of my superiors. That was a high risk and high cost move. Ultimately, my stand cost me my reputation, friends, sleep, my position and my livelihood within CAP. Because I choose to protect my cadets and be loyal to them, everything we had spent years building was destroyed in a few months. The aftermath was horrible. Tears were shed, but I found out something. Those people above me are no longer in my life. Those below me, my cadets – they still keep in contact with me and share their lives with me. I consider it an honor to be regarded by them as someone they look up to as a leader. In the middle of the ugly stuff, I stayed true to the people that mattered most – and they had my back.
That principle has shaped the way that I lead. That time years ago was not the only time this has happened, there are a few others much more recent than that. Same senario, different people and events. But in the middle of that first time, something was woven into me that taught me to protect the people that you lead. Maybe I’m a rebel – or maybe I just have a radical form of leadership. Either way, the short term pain is worth the long term reward.
I don’t know if I have introduced anything new to you reading this blog. Hopefully you are encouraged if you are a leader like me or maybe this challenges you to evaluate your own leadership. Hopefully time will allow me to continue to blog about leadership more regularly, but until that time comes I will leave you with a quote:
“If you are a leader and you turn around and no one is following you, you are just out for a walk” – John Maxwell
In Christ,
Kyle
