041: How to Lead When You’re Not In Charge with Clay Scroggins
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SUMMARY:
Can you lead if you’re not the person in charge? Clay Scroggins thinks so and he’s joining Jeff and Shane on today’s episode to tell you why. Whether you own your own business or work within an organization, Clay is sharing his valuable wisdom on leveraging influence, thinking critically and launching yourself and your products into the market. We hope you enjoy this episode as much as we do.
HELPFUL LINKS + RESOURCES:
Pre-Order Clay’s Book: How To Lead When You’re Not In Charge
RELATED READING:
5 Ways to Bounce Back From Failure
The Best Leadership Advice I’ve Ever Received
THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS:
1. Lead Yourself
You might not always be in a position of power in your business or organization, but no matter what role you have… you have a responsibility to lead yourself well. This means holding yourself accountable to following through on your ideas, dreams and goals the way you would if you were holding someone on your own team accountable for them.
2. Choosing Positivity
All of us have been in a position where we’ve been handed down a decision that we didn’t make… and maybe, we don’t even believe it’s right. And then, we’re the ones who have to execute on it. In that moment, one of the best things you can do to lead is by choosing positivity. This doesn’t mean letting yourself be steamrolled or not sharing your ideas when appropriate, but it means setting the emotional tone for yourself and the team… even if you aren’t “the leader.”
It’s not saying “If I were them, I would have done this…” But instead, saying “what will we learn and what can we take forward?”
3. Thinking Critically
Even though you are choosing positivity, it doesn’t mean you turn off your brain and force yourself to think that everything is great. Critical thinking is a skill you practice in tandem with choosing positivity. It’s looking at any given situation and asking yourself “How could I or we add value here?”
Bonus tip: Make space for thinking critically. If you’re rushing into work a minute before you need to be there and then go from meeting to meeting to meeting, you don’t have the mental space to think about ways to add value. Like Shane said, creativity is somebody spending just a little bit more time thinking about something than someones else.
TWEET IT OUT:
You don’t have to wait on authority to begin leading, you can start leading now. – @clayscroggins