A Leadership lesson from 46 years ago
Mr Bryan was my rugby teacher when I was 11 years old. I couldn’t tell you what tactics he taught us, the scores in many of the games and the festivals that we visited.
BUT I can tell you exactly how he made me feel. He made Captain, he said he believed in me and he made feel confident about myself, at times when I was often doubting myself.
46 years ago, I still remember his name and I still remember the feeling. It wasn’t about what he said – it was all about how he made me feel.
When I share this in a room full of business owners and ask them to think of their own version, the room goes quiet in a way it rarely does during a business talk.
The reason is that everyone has a ‘Mr Bryan’ – a teacher, a coach, a first boss, a parent, a mentor — someone who made them believe they could do more than they thought they could.
Here’s what I find truly remarkable about this. Its that these leaders weren’t trying to be remembered. They weren’t reading books about leadership or attending courses on how to inspire people. They were just being themselves, paying attention, being kind, investing in someone who needed it.
THEY STAYED – not in the room but they stay in someone’s head for years……….and that’s the kind of leadership that actually changes things.
The question isn’t whether your team will remember you, because they will. The real question is WHAT they’ll remember.
If you want to explore what lasting leadership looks like in your business with an Unconventional approach, my work with Senior Leadership Teams is built around exactly this kind of conversation.
