When have you felt like a leader?

“I never felt like a leader until it was time to call it quits.”  I shared that statement with the class during our first evening. 

In case someone new is reading, let me explain that I had just spent the last twenty years helping to run two small family businesses and, for a number of reasons, we were no longer in business. 

Ted, our instructor, did a great job setting up a casual classroom atmosphere.  The tables were set in a semi-circle so we were facing each other.  We each had a name card set out in front of us, with our first name written on it in our own handwriting, large enough for each other to see.  Just that name card alone told us much about each other.  The semi-circle, rather than circle, fostered openness.

We began the evening with brief introductions.  Ted gave a quick overview of the course content.  Then he asked each of us to reflect on a time in which we had felt like a leader. 

That evening, I didn’t have a clue why I hadn’t felt like a leader until then.  Now, after learning a little more about leadership, I’m beginning to understand the picture.   

We bought our first gravel truck right at the time the housing boom began in our area.  That one truck was working from sunrise til sunset.  Local builders were badgering the excavating companies to get those foundations dug and the excavating companies couldn’t find enough trucks to haul the dirt away. 

So we bought another truck, and then another, and then another, and there was no end in sight.  The same happened with landscaping.  All these new homes being built needed the yards landscaped.  It was crazy!  Everyone wanted the beautiful new patio their neighbor just got.  We literally could not respond to all of the phone calls of people wanting landscaping done. 

What we didn’t realize then, but I see now, we were allowing these external factors to control us.  We just kept on adding crews and equipment and trucks trying to keep up with it.  It is so clear now, we were not leading these companies, these companies had control over us.   

Then the bottom fell out.  Almost overnight, the phone went from ringing off the hook to not ringing at all.   Before long, it was evident, it was time to call it quits.  

I mentioned in an earlier post that a leader is one who takes someone or something from point A to point B.  These companies never had a point B before.  Now they did!

External factors had been in control, but now there was a job to be done.  Employees would be losing their jobs.  The banker would need to be dealt with.  For some reason my instincts kicked in and told me that now more than ever I would be needed as a role model, so many eyes would be watching my actions.

I do not believe that I began being a leader at that point.  I do think though that is when I began following … following my heart. 

When have you felt like a leader?