I read an article today about the cost of boarding horses. We pay $625 a month plus the cost of training for Lil Duke (yes that is officially his name – Don’t ask). The article indicated that just an average barn the cost is about $500 per horse per month! This doesn’t include things like maintenance, etc.
This article got me thinking about the true cost of leadership and if we are willing to put in the time to make the most of it! When we decided to buy a horse, we did so without a real understanding of the cost, I think alot of us get into leadership without fulling understanding the cost.
Of course the cost isn’t so much monetary but time and energy. We think wow, I just promoted I am going to be a great leader without really knowing what that means! We can prepare ourselves by finding mentors, reading books and looking at examples around us! However, we can’t expect that this is going to come naturally, even for those we are natural leaders.
When we first got Duke, I thought we’ll get on him and ride him and life will be great. Then we figured out that he is afraid of his own tail and he couldn’t understand why he would need to do simple things like stop. As leaders we think this is all going to be so easy. We are going to go to work on day 1 and be this amazing leader! I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but probably not going to happen.
You are going to have days where you feel like you are the best there is, and then you will have days where you are sure your mouth and your brain are seriously disconnected! The way to get better is to seek mentorship – don’t expect it to come to you! And ask for feedback from your team and those around you!
Think about how you handle situations and see if you could of done it better and or changed it! Then don’t get frustrated when you do 2 steps forward and 1 back! There will be days where you get on the horse and the ride is amazing and there will be days where you get on and end up on the ground!
Don’t under estimate what you can do! However, don’t over estimate it either! Then start learning and never stop!
Leadership Simplified 