I’ve always found myself in leadership roles. I’m good at helping people find what they’re best at. One time .in college we were put into groups of four to complete a marketing project. We had to prepare a 15 page paper and 10 minute presentation on a new product that we would introduce to country outside Egypt. I took initiative among the group to lead a discussion on how we should split up the work, when we will meet throughout the semester, and deadlines for each person’s part of the work. Because I was the one to take lead the discussion and had a plan in mind, I gained the buy in of the other members quickly. I took everyone’s e-mail address and created a group email to help us all keep track of our progress and so we could help each other outside of class and our meetings. By the end of the semester, my group achieved a 95% on our project.
And during a few time in my current job I had a general manager who would micro-manage every single project, often causing missed deadlines and frustration throughout the department. We all worried about our department’s reputation within the company, but since he was our boss, we felt helpless to try and change anything. It was indeed frustrating knowing you could complete a project on time, only to have your boss need to stop you and question what you were doing and suggest changes. But I got the idea that maybe if I talked with the boss and showed him that we could get more done as a department if we all worked together to have better communications and to trust each other to ask for help and direction when we needed it. Since we worked together, rather than against each other, the boss gained confidence in us to do our jobs, and we were able to do our jobs and also regain the reputation of the department.
MOHAMED ABD ELTAWWAB AHMED MOHAMED
Hey @mansour111988
welcome on board and thanks for sharing.
I was wondering in which field do you work ? and was it easy to find a job and what do you think about your current one.
I admire you taking the leadership initiative in college and in work life as well, which could be very hard to do so specially if you have a manager that is hard to deal with. Do you think leadership is a skill that is missing among the youth looking for better jobs, and how do you imagine a work environment to enrich such qualities.
Hi @mansour111988, happy to meet you. I’m Noemi and have experienced leadership roles in projects I manage myself, but many times I also work under the guidance of colleagues, when they are in the lead.
I find it easier over time to be able to empathise with both positions…
Have you experienced working in more horizontal organisations, where being a leader doesnt mean bossing people around? Yannick, a community member in Belgium, wrote about this in a post titled: Why flat organisations need honest role divisions.
Feel free to offer your thoughts to Yannick in a comment.
I wasn’t a leader - at least one who managed other people - until I was 44 years old. I spent years being the #2 person or “one of the crew.”
But when it fell on me to do it, I went to see an older venture capitalist man I greatly admire. I said to him, “it is now time for me to lead, to be the boss. I understand that you have to run the money and take care of the finances and hire people. But what is it really about? What is the most important thing?”
He looked me in the eye and said, “counseling!”