I’M OUT OF TOWN THIS WEEK SO PLEASE ENJOY THIS LEADERSHIP MESSAGE FROM OUR EXECUTIVE CHEF AT FOOTERS, MIKE MACDONALD!

What is the picture or image of a leader?  Is that image an asset or a liability?  It is certainly not just a surface issue. It can be tied to your effectiveness as a leader. Andrew Mason, CEO of Groupon said:

“I’ve been very lucky from the beginning. I’ve found that as long as you’re fundamentally good – as long as you’re not being bad to people – people give you a lot of room to be yourself, because being yourself is being honest. And that’s what people want to see.”

Mason is very perceptive in this quote, recognizing that what people used to see is a certain image, and is without question, evolving today. What a leader looks like can be a changing image from person to person but in 2018,  Deloitte surveyed 5,075 workers to examine how they felt leadership styles should evolve to meet the needs of today’s workforce. The resulting study revealed that 72% of employees want a redefinition of leadership to be more “human,” balancing hard power traits, and softer, more emotional qualities.

Overall, what this trend shows is that there is no one true image of a leader, that image is more in each individuals mind and shows we cannot all strive to lead with the same practices or in the same looks. 

In my personal experience, each and every leadership opportunity presents evolving challenges from person to person and experience to experience. In the kitchen subset of hospitality, we might have teammates that are brand new to the workforce, mixed in with people who might have 20+ years experience. Dealing with each of these personalities and experience might need a different tactic or even different verbiage to make your points stick. I’ve found that adaptability within these leadership opportunities can really help with high-level communication throughout your organization.

Ultimately, I feel like true leadership doesn’t require a costume, it requires time, care and certainly some of that “human” element. So today, I ask you go off in your own leadership journey, think a bit about your personal image, and also think a bit about your leadership image and how you can better yourself to ultimately, better those around you.