"Go Ask Your Father"

As we celebrated Father’s Day this past weekend, I was thinking about my dad and how it has been 7 years since his passing.  For me he is never really gone, always in heart, but quietly in the background.  Which honestly, you could proclaim is the leadership style he lived.

We see and or read article after article, post upon post, about leadership.  What qualities make a good leader, an ineffective one, a memorable one.  If we are truthful, most of us in the role, desire to be the leader exemplifying all the definitions if not actually modeling the examples of writings.  I don’t know that my dad ever thought about this… maybe.  He lived at a time and was the type of person that did what he did, without overthinking it. For that, anyone that had the fortune to meet him, looked upon him as a distinguished leader.   

Honoring dad, I share a perspective of leading to add to all the others. Leadership contains humility, empathy and listening. A leader is confident, engaged, honest, dependable and committed.  You identify with being significant to them and there’s no questioning what they stand for.  Most of all, in their absence, you remember thoughtfully the words, phrases or stories they spoke.  You speak of them with admiration and appreciation of your experiences with them. You miss them but carry pieces of them forward in your life. 

In respect to my role model of leadership, I am questioning can it be as simple as striving to be the best and most authentic version of yourself? Living our story and values, every day with integrity? In trying so hard to define leadership perfectly and as if it is repeatable, are we complicating it? Do we forget leading requires a two-way, real relationship around forming a connection and showing respect?  Can leadership be summed up as how the impact of our contributions makes a meaningful difference?
​
With this year’s celebration complete, if possible, reimagine the fatherhood influence in your life as a definition of leadership to inspire you.  Happy Father’s Day to all – my sons, my husband, my dad (watching over us) and every man that is touching our life momentously!

​“My father didn’t tell me how to live. He lived and let me watch him do it.” – Unknown

What is your father story? What is your leadership challenges and opportunities? ...ReImagine Possibilities, Inc.