Role models are people that others, rightly or wrongly, look up to and strive to emulate. They come in many shades and range from the truly great to the unspeakably bad. You can’t always pick your leaders, but you can choose your role models.
I had an interesting experience a few days ago. I had just responded to somebody’s online comment regarding one of my articles right here on LinkedIn when I received the following message
There are entire sections in libraries devoted to leadership and many great leaders and thinkers have spent their lives trying to define and describe leadership. And there are innumerable courses and programs designed to help people become good leaders by focusing on one aspect or another of what makes a great leader.
As I press “enter” to publish this article, I’m a few hours away from addressing an audience of leaders on the topic of courage in the workplace.
I was having lunch recently with a colleague from another organization. We have similar jobs, are about the same age, have been married to our respective spouses for a long time and have children in either high school or university.
If you took a look at my LinkedIn profile, you would notice, in 2009, a 7-month gap in my employment history. That’s because on this very week exactly 8 years ago, I lost my job as an executive of a major financial institution, a job I had been extremely proud of and that in many ways, defined how I thought of myself.
As I mentioned in a previous post titled “Dad, What Degree Should I Get?”, I have two daughters in university and a son wrapping up his senior year of high school. My children went through their teens in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-2008, when the “good times” – if there ever was such a thing for most people – screeched to a halt and a difficult period set in for so many in this country and elsewhere.
I had the privilege this afternoon, after class, to have an extended conversation with a number of my Judo students which left me quite thoughtful.
The humor of the title will not have escaped anyone who is parent to a teenager or a young adult. I have two daughters in university and a son who is grappling as I write these lines with program choices for next year, but none of them have ever actually sought my advice on the matter.
