Preface
One of the questions that I do enjoy asking to leaders the most is:
what makes you stay awake at night?
And it tells me so much about their take on the world. And no matter what they say, it inspires me anyway. It always has an impact in my life, further shaping how the world should really look like.
What scares me about being a leader? The idea that I could not help out people for being themselves. And if I cannot help them at least to not stop them from enjoy their lives.
Too many of our so-called ‘leaders’ only look up. How can I make more connection to fulfill my very own wants? How do we win this challenge no matter what the expenses on people wellbeing are? Or so and so asked me to do stuff and it goes against my team, it goes against of what it means to be a leader, but they expect me to play by the rules.
From time to time you can feel like squeezed into a world that does not really fit you. A world that does not play by the most important rules:
- you can have what you want until you - often times, unfortunately consciously - do it at the expenses of others.
- respects someone else freedom to do great things with their lives.
- at the end of the day we are all human beings and we all want and deserve a fulfilling life.
Caring for people is a game changer, and a real test for your willingness to be on the leadership journey.
When for you caring about people is the very first thing that matters, and it should be obvious to everyone, while it is not: you are trapped. Caring needs to be the core of everything that we do.
Management can feel - and often is - a lonely journey for most of us.
Being a leader is a very conscious choice, and what upsets me is that I’ve seen to many situations where reality - or the perceived one - is that in order to get what you want (maybe a ‘career’, more money, maybe one more chance to be listen to, ‘to have an impact’) is linked to a title. Like the title is you.
You are not your title. You have a title. And with that title comes the privilege to serve others.
The title does not shape your power.
Before embracing a ‘leadership’ role, all of us should really think about its natural implications. It is not just the ‘skill set’.
I am called to lead a team of 5: am I willing to fight for 5 more people? Not just me. Am I willing to make their work-life fulfilling, not just my own?
I am called to lead a team of 100 people: am I willing to truly take the necessary steps to care myself and with the help of other leaders to keep scaling the company yet not making people’s life a nightmare?
How many times did you though something like:
- well work is still work no matter how much in theory I do like what I do?
- my job is a nightmare?
- I am just wishing my life away to pay the bills in the meanwhile?
- I feel like questioning myself about even wanting to be on this path?
And the list and flavors could go on and on. And this scares a bit the h…ock out of me. The idea that not only myself – but many of you – yourself included – are constantly running these thoughts even unconsciously in the background of their minds.
Like it was an assumption that cannot be proven wrong.
One that cannot be nor changed or improved.
Not even questioned.
This makes me feel very sad for those on earth that are feeling this way.
We should question things instead of always forcing ourselves to think ‘it is that way because it always worked such and such way’.
I want to truly believe that even if any of us can feel powerless at first – or even most of the time, we can all together, one step at the time, make even the tiniest positive change – and that will matter.
Why I wrote this book?
If you went though other books I wrote – either technical or on leadership – you probably have already a sneak pick on who I am and why I do write about those topics. Either way, here it is a bit more.
Writing to me means contributing to the world with my own experience: a bit of my own legacy. Being able to help others by means of my path, all the struggles I had to overcome myself, means a lot to me.
Books have been my resource when I wanted immediate access to brilliant minds out there in the world, or when I could not find an obvious help in my immediate network.
Every time I wanted to jump on the shoulders of the giants.
Leadership means a lot to me: from people to business perspective.
If you know me enough, however, you know that I do value hard skills as much as soft skills across the board.
And, if you know me as a leader, you already know how much I do care about people. And if you did not know, well… now you know it! :)
Hence, I decided to start writing this other piece of legacy, with the wish that yourself and anyone that surrounds you might be positively impacted by a care-full leader.
Disclaimer
Some concepts in the book might not be brand new if you approached some of the work I previously did. Truth be told, I believe in them and in many cases they need to be expanded upon in the direction of being a care-full leader.
All opinions and concepts in this book are my very own, and by no means represent the position of any of my employers, past or present.
