#NinjaLeadership: What Leadership Means to Office Ninjas
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” You see this quote from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (ak…
Read the Full #NinjaLeadership Series: Intro | Joanne Linden | Melissa Smith | Crystal Le | Takeaways
“Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” You see this quote from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (aka Channing Tatum’s speech at the end of its film adaptation She’s the Man) in practically every generic article you read about leadership. The article goes like this: a reference to Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi or Winston Churchill, a list of traits we like in our leaders—communicative, perceptive, knowledgeable, brave, compassionate, etc.—and finally a few simple steps that everyone can take to become a better leader. That’s all there is to leadership, right? The problem with this write-up on leadership (in addition to being generic) is that it assumes that only people in an acknowledged place of power—the CEOs, politicians, activists and celebrities of the world—are the only real leaders (that matter). They’re the ones saving/killing the world, after all! So how can the rest of us follow this advice to be a great leader like Martin Luther King Jr. or Mahatma Gandhi or Winston Churchill if we aren’t saving/killing the world? **Cue cricket noises.** The fact is that how our culture thinks of leadership—especially in the workforce—is all wrong. Leaders aren’t heroes—they are everyday people doing their jobs and doing them well.