Leadership is the role or position of guiding and directing others. The capacity to lead, and the act or instance of leading. The title leader is often given, but are all people labeled as leaders, leaders? A true leader knows how to bring out the best in those that they lead. I have known great leaders, and I have known leaders who thought they were great. A great leader understands that we are all different. We bring different values and experiences to the table because we have lived different experiences and may have different values.

One of the best leaders I know happens to be a former boss of mine. From day one, he made me feel important. I was an administrative assistant, but this boss made me feel like I was the captain of our team. He made sure I knew what he expected of me by outlining my duties, he made sure I had the training needed, and that I had all the equipment to help me succeed at my job. He got the best out of his team each day because we all felt like we were a part of something bigger. 

This boss knew exactly how to do each job and would sometimes come in and help when things were busy. He was not afraid to get his hands wet. We did team-building activities together every other month that helped strengthen our commitment to each other and to our company. He also shared his life experiences with us. One of the things that motivated me the most about him was that he genuinely cared not just about how I performed at work but about me. He cared about my well-being. It was like he put himself in our shoes so that he could get a better picture of us and how to lead us. He was personable, but not too personable. He used empathy to build connections and to promote understanding. Maya Angelou summed it up perfectly, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

My boss, this leader I admire, did not just search for harmony on our team, he helped create harmony by carefully sharing his vision to inspire us. He was always open to feedback, and, when he could, he would implement ideas that we had recommended. He kept us engaged and informed. He knew that if just one of us on our team was unproductive, it could bring down others on the team and make us not as effective as we could be. He also knew that if a person is successful on our team and the rest of the team saw it, it could cause the rest of us to step up our game. 

He knew that everyone within our team was equally important, regardless of their seniority within the company, as we all had a part to play in the business's function. In my mind, he is exactly what a leader looks like.