Leaders Don’t Rent…They Own

Great leaders are able to pull their team along by reaching out and embracing them on the journey of success. General Eisenhower used to use a simple piece of string to demonstrate the power of leadership. He’d place the string on a table and say, “Pull it and it will follow wherever you wish. Push it and it will go nowhere at all.”

Leaders who have the best teams are the ones who are wholly invested in their team. They take responsibility for the results the team produces. Embracing the team is about taking personal ownership in the success of the team. No matter if you’ve built your team from the ground up or you have inherited your team you must own up to the fact that the team is what you make it to be. I have been around many leaders who blame their lack of success on the incompetency of their team. The hard truth is that the leader is the one responsible for the outcome, not the team. Leaders have to have an owner’s mindset when it comes to embracing others.

Have you ever noticed the difference between owning and renting? In my early twenties, I worked a side job at a car rental company for a short time. I couldn’t believe how filthy the cars were when they came back on our lot from being rented. When you rent something, you don’t take as good care of it as you would if you owned it. As the saying goes, “no one ever washed their rental car.” When someone rents they have no value invested into it. However, when they own something they’ll take care of it because of the price they paid to get it. An owner’s mindset in leadership is about being fully committed and responsible for the well being of the team. Leaders that blame the team for their mistakes are ones that do not understand their role. The team is a reflection of the leader, especially the longer time goes on. Many leaders inherit a team from the beginning of their tenure. And there certainly are growing pains and times when the team does not reflect the leader. But over time a leader reproduces who they are in the team. This means that if you do not like the attitude of your team you need to take a look at yourself. If you do not like the work ethic of your team, first look at your own work ethic. You have to be what you want to see in others.

Great leaders live by the window and mirror principle. The window and mirror principle depicts that when the team is doing great the leader looks out the window and gives the team all the credit! But when the team is doing poorly the leader willingly looks in the mirror and asks, “What can I do better to lead my team?” Lao Tzu said it right when he stated, “A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”