Why You Shouldn't Become a Leader!
Sheri Staak, Leadership Expert, Rain Maker
Executive Director, National Account CVS Health at Boehringer Ingelheim
Or, We Need Great Individual Contributors
Leadership isn’t for everyone—you either love it or you don’t. The other day a friend of mine who works at Home Depot said, “They want me to move into management. I don’t want to be a manager; I’m happy working the floor and helping customers.” This isn’t the first time I have heard such comments made by talented employees. My immediate response, “If you don’t take this opportunity you may not get another one in the future.” His response was a shoulder shrug and a comment regarding his happiness not being tied to managing people.
Ask yourself: Is it genuinely your dream to guide, teach, and direct the success of others (what we call being a leader), or are you happier being in control of your own world and not being worried about the activity of an entire team? There is nothing wrong with being a top single contributor in any field. What matters most is that you know what is right for you.
Numerous individuals get caught up in thinking that success only comes by being in charge, and being THE BOSS. This misguided vision results in people seeking management positions for the wrong reason. The wrong motivation and desire to be a leader will result in both DUD leadership and an unhappy self. If the fundamental commitment to helping other individuals is missing then you can never excel as a leader.
Leadership may not be right for you if:
You’re a lone wolf – You like being responsible for only your performance and the thought of having to be measured based on other people’s performance makes you uneasy.
You prefer someone giving you directions – If an ambiguous world frustrates you and you are happier with people giving you clear direction you may be better off as a team member than a team leader.
You lack consistency - As a leader people require a steady, focused person and not somebody who’s volatile, contradictory in both their thoughts and attitudes. You can’t show up one day as a caring leader and then later become a hard-ass on the warpath.
You don’t love learning and change – Face it, leaders need to read, study, and embrace new ideas. If you are more comfortable with the status quo skip leadership and find the position that is more comfortable for you.
You can’t make decisions – I know individuals who take forever deciding what they want to order for dinner let alone making a decision on where to take the team. If decision making frustrates you or even overwhelms you then you are best not taking on a leadership role.
You are a negative person and give negative feedback in general – Perhaps this is the old adage of the glass being half full or half empty. An individual who not only thinks that the glass is half empty, but sees the water as not helping to even slightly quench the thirst, and starts to blame anyone and everyone for the shortfall is not going to make a good leader.
Should you be a leader?
Should you move from a position of being an individual contributor to leading a team?
Do you want to make a positive impact on the lives of other people or simply focus on your impact on your life?
No one can answer these questions except you. Remember, there is nothing wrong with being a good performer and not wanting to be a leader.
Voltaire stated, “With great power comes great responsibility.” If you’re seeking power for the sake of money or prestige you may very well be better served not leading.
But, if you choose management and leadership because of a passion to drive a mission, a desire to encourage others, a willingness to forge a project to completion, and intrinsic satisfaction from being a positive influence in the world, then you’re on a path to leadership.
The most important takeaway: Be thoughtful about your decision to be a leader.
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About the Author
Sheri Staak has led businesses with more than $1 Billion in revenue and teams with over 1,300 employees. Sheri has worked with successful start-ups, assisted entrepreneurs, and managed turnarounds in both large corporations and small businesses.
Sheri’s desire is to help you, our future leaders, achieve your personal and business goals faster and easier than you would on your own.
While Sheri is best known for leading, motivating, and directing large pharmaceutical sales teams, her passion is to help and mentor those on her team and in the world become WOW Leaders and WOW Individuals. Her desire is to help both the established leader and the neophyte leader develop WOW Leadership skills.
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The Blog and The Book:
You can read more on WOW Leadership on her popular blog, The Staak Report. Her book, Tune In To WOW Leadership: 10 Lessons Learned From America’s Favorite Shows, is currently available online as a preorder at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. Tune In To WOW Leadership: 10 Lessons Learned From America’s Favorite Shows, will be available in bookstores beginning January 6, 2015.
Larger quantities of Tune In To WOW leadership may be ordered by contacting Sheri Staak through LinkedIn.
Positive Psychology Pioneer, Workplace Thought Explorer, Executive Coach, Coauthor of The Business of Race AND Profit from the Positive (McGraw-Hill), and Keynote Speaker
9yIt takes a courageous leader to say that he is just not cut out to be a manager and would prefer to be an individual contributor instead. Let's all play to our strengths!
Owner / CEO / Executive Business Development Consultant & Trainer / Coach
9yLeadership is not an easy job. And needs special skills and talented capabilities wich is not for everybody to aquire.
Student at Mount Mary College
9yOh my good, SUCH nonsense. "Leading" is not what most managerial positions is about. Managers push papers, assign tasks, carrot-and-stick OTHERS' performance. Becoming a manager is about organizing projects and ceasing doing real work that results in real product. Good managers ... bless their hearts, because they are necessary and brilliant at making everything move forward. But please stop pushing the idea that managers will do anything "real" every again. Your example of the Home Depot worker: you are wrong. A manager - for the vast majority of his time - will not be out on the floor, helping people. Your advice is incredibly poor, regarding a person's happiness. How arrogant you are to believe that no one should or could be happy doing something he loves. Why is being a floor worker at Home Depot "less than" policing others, making schedules, filling out employee assessments? At a lot of tech companies, the best coders don't become management, nor do they want to. Because it means you don't spend your time coding. - At Texas Instrument, my best friend (electrical engineer) feared the day someone offered to make her management - because that meant they thought she was more manageable NOT contributing to the tech. - My nephew is an engineer and refuses to become his group's manager, because it is 70% paperwork, meetings, talking and NOT "doing." Some people (not you apparently) actually value producing actual things. If you can't, or don't prioritize the value of those who "do" over those who organize, schedule, talk about what others' are actually producing, then fine. But you are outright delusional if you think HD managers spend their time "reading" and "learning." Or most managers, anywhere. Seriously, name ONE company where a manager is a position of research and technical knowledge. Just one.
General Manager - Pharma
9yThanks Sheri, I enjoyed reading your great article. Is it a decision to be a leader or you need followers to believe in you and choose you as a leader. I like Keith comment - Those who should lead ...don't and those who lead ... should not! Someone may have leadership potential according to above characters but can't lead because no voluntary followers.