1 Thing The Very Best Leaders Do – According To You!

Your responses to the question - what is the 1 behavior of the very best leader you’ve worked for - are instructive. Additionally, they provide insights to our leadership orientation and inspiration on how we can influence others.

In a quest to tap into what the very best leaders do, several weeks ago I posted a question on LinkedIn. The response was terrific. For all that commented on the post or contacted me directly, thanks so much. Your insights are useful and instructive.

Reading them was inspiring for me. They serve as a great reminder for what we’re all striving for in terms of leadership impact.

Below is the readout from what you all said and a few ideas wrapped around.

The Set Up

So here was the question:

QUESTION: What is the 1 behavior of the very best leader you’ve worked for that enabled (s) you to be at your best?

I got equal parts people in and out of my first level network. A good reminder of the power of LI to connect you to people and people to you, who you don’t yet know.

Themes And Threads

I clustered the responses into six themes or threads.

The responses suggest the very best leaders do the following to enable you to be at your best:

• Offer  — an ear (listen), empathy, understanding, interest, and respect
• Give — trust, autonomy, their proxy, confidence, empowerment
• Provide —  encouragement, appreciation, a role model
• Exhibit —  integrity, professionalism, responsibility
• Demonstrate — bravery, adaptability, perseverance, decisiveness
• Reveal — humility, information, self-deprecating humor and a real person (!)

Throwing My Answer Into The Mix

So I wanted to throw my answer in as well. The very best leader I worked, was interested in me. And it served to help me be at my very best.

I pressed myself on the underpinning of what I think of and describe as interested. It’s probably worth commenting that interested does not mean in my grill or overexposure.

For me, it is a small bundle that includes an appropriate sense of curiosity, thoughtful questions, listening and an intangible active/ongoing element.

Interested exists both at the moment and carries forward relative to progress and development. For me, interested quietly and without fanfare, fueled and motivated hard work, an intense focus on delivering results and ultimately loyalty.

What Struck Me Most

I didn’t see any trends concerning the demographics – gender, age or nationality.

More than anything that struck me reading the comments and emails, was the personal nature of the responses and explanations. As respects, the very best leaders, no one said things like strategic, smart, a visionary or resulted oriented.

While I doubt anyone would say no I don’t want or respect those, they didn’t show up on the list. The behaviors or attributes that enable us to be at our best are more personal; they hit in a way and in a place that changes us.

The very best leaders have a way of making us feel like we, as individuals, uniquely get their time and attention. Intellectually we know that isn’t true. That doesn’t matter. It feels personal

What they do and how they make us feel leave a mark. While it’s hard to pinpoint at that moment, they change us, help make us better. No surprise then, we remember them and specifically.

What Does It Say About Us?

What any of us write down is part about us and part about that leader in the back of our mind.

We respond and on board to leadership attributes and behaviors most important to us. We each prioritize different things. That is both natural and okay.

The very best leaders have us figured out. I mean that in a positive way.

They develop finely tuned leadership instincts, have a servant leader orientation, pay close attention or maybe are just lucky. I’m betting least on the final element.

They don’t earn on your list or mine as one of the best leaders by one day, one set of behaviors. They do the hard yards of caring about it even when constraints or conflicts predict otherwise.

Related: 9 Things People Do If They Want You To Be Successful As A Leader

Gifts The Very Best Leaders Bring

Thinking about these high impact leadership traits provides a powerful lesson about leadership. You not only observe these behaviors you experience them. More important than a single action is the imprint it leaves and how it fuels you going forward. While it’s not visible to all, it’s right there for you.

Additionally, being around great leaders who leave that kind of imprint inspire us to do the same. They make you want to deliver that to someone else.

Reading your responses was inspiring.

Every one of us has an opportunity to do something similar. While we may not think about it this way, someone (probably more than one) you come in contact with today, tomorrow and the next days can benefit from your leadership.

They will remember something you said or did for them.

Give yourself (and them) the time to make that a reality. Amazing things happen when you do.

Pay It Forward

We all leave each other better or worse than we enter an encounter, conversation or email exchange. Making a conscious choice to pick better is the absolute best way to take what we’ve benefited from and pay it forward.

No matter where you work or what you do that makes for a better culture, and a business people want to be part of.

Here is a classic TED Talk by Drew Dudley called Everyday Leadership. It is a witty look at the everyday act of improving each other’s lives.

Next Question

So my second question on LinkedIn posted several days ago was 180 degrees from this question. It is:

QUESTION: What is the most problematic leadership trait you experienced with someone you worked for?

If you haven’t responded yet, please weigh in. Here is the link:

QUESTION ON LINKEDIN ABOUT LEADERSHIP

I’ll get you the readout from the dark side next week.

Thanks again for engaging.

Question: Any surprises here with what people said or didn’t say about what the very best leaders do?