I’m 6’6”. Besides airplane bathrooms that is rarely an issue, except when you’re co-training with a 5’4” woman. I remember at a break half-way through our training event she pulled me aside and said, “James, we have to get a stool.”
I’ll be honest, the first thing that came through my head was, “She is NOT going to stand on a stool?!”
Fortunately I have learned to ask questions, “What for?” I asked.
She said, “So you can sit on it!”
Sometimes when we stand things next to each other we notice the differences.
There’s a big difference in leaders that use their positions to lead, and leaders who lead people. Positional leaders sit in the offices thinking “I’m responsible for this.” Launching Leaders have a well-worn path to the offices of the people on their team, creating a shared sense of responsibility and inspiring a shared vision.
Positional Leader: Sees people in need of their help
Launching Leader: Sees people as healthy creative and whole
Positional Leader: Wants to maintain the center position
Launching Leader: Consistently puts other people in the middle
Positional Leader: Spends most of the day solving/putting out fires
Launching Leader: Spends most of day managing progress
Positional Leader: Tries to model for others in her/his actions
Launching Leader: Not trying to make people like her/him
Positional Leader: Sees himself as the expert
Launching Leader: Sees others as experts
Positional Leader: Avoids hard situations to avoid tough decisions
Launching Leader: Sees every frustration as an opportunity for leadership
Positional Leader: Generate answers for other
Launching Leader: Ask many questions to enable others
Positional Leader: Drag people towards his/her goals
Launching Leader: Draw out what others want and launch them toward their goals