Achieving is Not Leading

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Ryan Coelho

Most of my life I was an achiever: Honour Roll Student, 2 Pilot’s License, Skydiving License, Honours in Aerospace Engineering, Travel Enthusiast, and the list goes on. While I’m proud of every one of these accomplishments, there was one thing I’ve looked back and had to face the reality of… I was an achiever, not a leader.

You see in my mind I thought I was a leader throughout, but the problem is those same thoughts were saying “Hey look at me!” rather than “I’m going to help you achieve just as much.”

In my opinion, leaders inspire the actions of others. They don’t aim for glorified fame, they aim to bring out the best in others.

Here are my learnings on how to be a true leader:

1) Put your focus on inspiring actions of others

2) It’s not about being glorified for your leadership, but rather grateful you made a difference.

3) Always show up yourself. Don’t put on a facade.
(It’s weird writing this since I used to tell others in the past to put on a happy face even if they weren’t happy… I encouraged them to be fake. I was wrong and am sorry for that poor advice.)

There you have it. #GameOn

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  • Florin Gheorghe

    Good points, though I would say your achiever phase was necessary. I think you need to enrich yourself with skills, knowledge, and experience before you can have a handle on leadership. You need that base to make you personally strong and capable, otherwise you may not be able to practice the kind of leadership that is needed at the level it is needed. But I guess there is more than one way to get somewhere and to get experience and skill.

  • http://RyanCoelho.com Ryan Coelho

    Great points Florin. Do you think it’s possible to get the S/K/E as you lead? Or do you need to achieve before you lead? Or both?