Leadership Is a Love Affair, Here's Why.

Do you have a deep-seated love for your team, or are you one of those people who believe that your staff is getting paid to do a job, so it really doesn’t matter if you notice their existence.

I watched a Simon Sinek YouTube video titled, “Why good leaders make you feel safe” and Simon was giving a story about a group of Marines making their way through Afghanistan to help protect a group of government officials when the team came under heavy gunfire from three sides and one Capt. William D. Swenson, who was given a Medal of Honor for bravery, ran into the line of fire to bring the injured men to safety during the ambush.

One of the medevac team who came to airlift the injured men out of the area wore one of those GoPro cameras on his helmet and captured the entire rescue live. The captain was assisted by one of his comrades and brought one of the injured marines to the helicopter with a gunshot wound to his neck. They put the wounded man down, Captain Swenson kissed him on his forehead and went back into the heart of the gunfire to rescue more people. Unfortunately, Captain Swenson never got to see that injure marine again.

I listen to this, and I said to myself, wow, where do people like this come from; one thing about great leaders is this, and you will find this a lot in the military, when a leader has a deep-seated love for his team, they will lay their life for that team. That type of leadership is missing in many organizations today. People don’t feel safe in their company, and they do not believe their leaders will have their backs in the line of fire.

Many leaders fail to grasp the importance of this concept, and in many instances, they have fallen in love with the title, the prestige of the office, and the fact that they are in charge. When you are leading people, you should have and will have some emotion, you are human, and as humans, we are emotional creatures. One must remember that leadership is all about relationships. It’s about how we create the connection and keep it growing.

The fundamentals of leadership have remained true year in and year out.

• Purpose

• Trust

• Communication

• Vision

• Motivation

• Values

• Culture

• Humility

• Empathy

These variables are the foundation in any leadership setting, and every leader should fall madly in love with them to ensure their company has a solid foundation to develop and become one of the best in the world. One of the principal reason for starting Leadership First was to give credence to these so call “soft” skills and also to show that it is absolutely necessary for any organization, irrespective of the industry or sector; small, medium or large to have a firm foundation with these variable as the anchor.

When you have a genuine, deep-seated love for your employees, you will create something so unique only a few have done during history. Although the injured Solider, who was saved by Captain Swenson succumbed to his injuries, Captain Swenson men admired his temerity, dedication and love for his team, and when asked by a reporter why do it, why would you risk your life and run into live fire to save someone he simple said this “they would have done it for me” and isn't that the organization we would all like to work in?

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About Gifford Thomas

I am the founder of Leadership First and the author of The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible. At Leadership First, we are committed to publishing the very best inspirational leadership quotes and articles to inspire our 210,000+ community of leaders to believe in the impossible, while creating an environment free from toxic, fearful and intimidating leadership. We believe everyone can and should enjoy their work, but it must start with the leadership leading by example. Follow our community of leaders HERE, and let's change the leadership status quo to help inspire and motivate our leaders to make a difference and create an organization their people will love.

You can pick up your copy of my book The Inspirational Leader, Inspire Your Team To Believe In The Impossible by clicking the link below