Life is too short to be little.
– Benjamin Disraeli
The late Fred Rogers, at his induction into the Television Hall of Fame, gave a speech that I believe typifies what leadership is all about. Rogers said, “Fame is a four-letter word: like tape or zoom or face or pain or love, what ultimately matters is what we do with it”. And he’s right.
Rogers’s perspective on what is important may seem like a throwback in time, but the message is timeless. Rogers added, “Who in your life has been a servant to you? Who has helped you love the good that grows within you? No matter who they are, whether here or in imagine how pleased those people must be to know that you thought of them right now”.
Italo Magni said, “If you’re talking with your head, you’re going to speak to their heads. If you’re talking with your heart, you’re going to reach their hearts. If you talk with your life, you’re going to reach their lives”. So here is the question: On which level do you, as a leader, want to lead?
Here are a few observations from that quote that I believe are worth taking into consideration for your leadership.
When you lead with your head, you can help
There is certainly an advantage to leading from a position of knowledge. We need smart and wise leaders. It lends credibility to your leadership to be knowledgeable in your field. But leading with your head can only take you so far in leadership.
Howard Hendricks said, “You can impress people at a distance, but you can impact them only up close.” You can draw a person in with your knowledge, but if you want to keep them there and make a difference, there has to be more to it.
When you lead with your heart, you can make a difference
When you lead on this level, you have taken a major step in expanding your influence as a leader.
When you lead with your head you earn respect because of what you know. When you lead with your heart, you earn respect because of who you are.
And that is the difference maker.
Malcolm Forbes said, “At the heart of any good business is a chief executive with one”. Leading from the heart provides the emotional intelligence that you need to integrate head knowledge into a plan of action that can easily be embraced. Until you connect with the heart you will never get to the life-changing encounters that come from leading with your heart.
When you lead with your life, you can change the world
Leading with your life is the most powerful form of leadership. This level of leadership embodies all that you know and all of your passions and unites them into a life committed to adding value to others.
Final Thoughts
Fred Rogers also said, “If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet, how important you can be to the people you may never dream of. This is something of yourself that you leave in every meeting with another person.”
Stop and consider the relationships you have and how your influence is making a difference. When you lead with your life, your influence has no limits. What will be the measure of your leadership?
Featured Image courses of Terry Arthur (given in “eBay (v1)”), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
