Lead Without The Title

The day my son Carter started kindergarten, we dropped him off at 7:30am at the daycare (in the school) like usual, and my husband and I went off to work.

That morning, we asked if he wanted us to come and walk him up to class on his first day - he responded very sassily "I don't need my mom and dad to walk me up the stairs!"

When we picked the kids up later in the day, the daycare worker told us that we were the ONLY parents (out of about 30 kids) who did not show up to take our kids to kindergarten.

I didn't even know it was a big thing to go with your kids for their first day, plus I had likely been so absorbed in my work that the thought of taking time off wasn’t a priority. The guilt washed over me.

BUT then we were told that Carter stepped up. Many kids were nervous on the playground just before heading up for the first class and didn’t want to go.

He threw his backpack over his shoulder and said, "we don't need our parents, we can do this, it will be great, let's go!" And he led the group (literally a line of kids) into the classroom.

This is how the story was told to us and how he inspired the rest of the class. It was a great first day.

You see, you can lead from any seat – any role, any situation, any age. Yet so many people see leadership as a title or position or that you aren't a leader unless you have people reporting to you.

Leadership is a way of being – NOT your title. Wherever you are, you can inspire change and add value to the people around you and for yourself.

So if you are someone who doesn't see yourself as a leader because you don’t have the formal title OR you don’t see others as leaders without the name, it’s time to see leadership for what it really is.

"Leadership is a choice, not a rank. Anyone in an organization can be a leader. It's choosing to look out for the person on your left and to look out for the person on your right." – Simon Sinek

You are perfectly capable of leading from any seat!

Yesterday, Carter had his Grade 8 graduation. Time really does go by fast in the grand scheme of things. You'll miss it if you're always busy, busy, busy.

All my best, 

What Next?

You can sign up for Stacey's masterclass, The Confident "No" here.

Stacey L. Olson is a Leadership and Certified Positive Psychology Coach, has 15 years of corporate experience and has gone through her own transformational change from burning out to balanced in life while performing at a high level (both in her corporate career and own business). She works with professionals who want to work less, live more and be their best even with all the demands, high expectations and messiness of everyday life. Stacey is the founder of The Balanced Leader™ program and offers executive and leadership coaching, workshops, and speaking.