The Business of Leading

You the Leader – Part 2

The Habits That Form Leaders

Get over it! You are a leader; now lead. 

Your life is a business, and you are that business.

If the creator of all has given you a life to manage and run, how are you running that business?

Let me put it this way: If you had to report on the status of your life—your business, your company, your brand—to the CEO of your life, the person who owns the company, what would you report? What would you say about the state of “You Incorporated”? If you don’t view your life as a business, then the status report on your life might not reflect a very successful operation.

This is about You, Inc.—You Incorporated, You LLC, You Unlimited, the next-level you. I want to focus on you as a business. The totality of your life is a business. So, what does a business do? It’s either to offer a service or a product to someone for some profit or benefit. A successful business benefits both the provider of the service and the recipient. In other words, it profits both you and those you serve.

How effective is your life in benefiting both you and those around you? Let me be straightforward: “Get over yourself. You are not that great.” I heard Bishop T.D. Jakes says this, and he meant it to remind us that we often put too much pressure on ourselves, thinking we’re so important that we overlook what truly matters. We often get caught up in overthinking and overstretching our abilities, forgetting the simple truth that we need to master who we are (You Inc.) instead of trying to be someone we are not.

Why is this important? Because you are that person who influences someone else. Until you see yourself as an influencer, you overlook the fact that you have the ability to impact someone else for the better. As a parent, sibling, or cousin, you already have the privilege of affecting others and are doing so unknowingly. The question you should ask yourself is: how are you embracing that role? Are you doing your best in this role? Would God, the creator of all things, be pleased with your leadership? Would the person you respect most commend the way you lead others?

What are you doing to enhance the business of “You Incorporated”? The goal of every business is to continually improve itself for the benefit of both the business itself and the customers it serves.