Leadership Costs

Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash

Leadership costs. 

A lot.

Sometimes more than you wanted to give. 

The secret is keeping a pulse on the non-negotiables that you cannot afford to give. 

Look at it this way. There's a unique thing you were placed here for. 

Most likely you started doing THAT, or you set out to do it. 

And you were successful. 

So you were stretched and added new responsibilities to your plate. 

All good.

Until. 

Until the things you do that you weren't made to do outweigh the things that you were made to do. 

Until you carry more weight than you were designed to. 

Until the pain of continuing is greater than the pain of change. 

If you're a good leader, you will recognize when you hit the warning signs. 

If you're a great leader, you'll continually keep it in check, making small adjustments over time to stay fresh, to stay in your sweet spot. 

Ultimately, that's what it's about. Being who you were designed to be and doing what you were designed to do.  No more. No less. 

We must recognize it's not our job to be anyone's savior and it's not our responsibility to carry everything.  

It's our job to facilitate -- not carry. 

There are things we have to carry. But we have to be okay believing in the people around us to carry their portion of the load, releasing them to do it, and to even make mistakes and screw some things up along the way. Isn't that how we learned, too? Someone gave us enough rope to do something significant, knowing full well we could have hung ourselves. 

So, dear leader, this day I plead with you. 

May we lead offensively rather than defensively. For the sake of those we lead, let's lead from a place of health where we are fresh, leading from a place of strength and from our sweet spot.