New book affirms that true leadership lies in recognizing human imperfections

James Robilotta has played a variety of roles in his life, from student leader to student affairs professional, comedian, public speaker, and personal life coach. Those experiences have given him the opportunity to lead, be led, and help develop new leaders, which ultimately led to a powerful realization: “I see a problem with developing leaders today: They think they need to be someone who doesn’t they are to get what they want. This mindset negatively affects the way they communicate and build relationships with their peers, co-workers, and supervisors.”

James can see this flaw because it’s one he’s had himself; For example, in high school he took on multiple leadership roles not because he was committed to being a leader, but because of what it would look like on his resume, and in college he tried to dress up to fit popular ideas of who he was. meant to be “fresh”. Fortunately, James realized these flaws and changed, learning to laugh at himself and using these stories as examples to illustrate the importance of his leadership message. Now, in his new book, Leading Imperfectly: The Value of Being Authentic for Leaders, Professionals, and Humans, James argues that the mistakes we make and our imperfections are where we learn our most valuable lessons; Those character flaws are what ultimately shape us into successful leaders who aren’t afraid to share our imperfections.

The idea of ​​imperfect leadership resonates with James because it gives us a human place to connect with others. He claims that allowing ourselves to be imperfect “increases open and honest communication between all levels of the hierarchy because then you’ll be leading from a place of support and understanding instead of one of fear and pressure.”

Another way many leaders pretend to be something other than who they are is in the stories they tell. James is tired of hearing the same people as examples of greatness: “If I hear one more time that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team or that Wayne Gretzky said, ‘You miss 100 percent of the shots you take ‘ don’t take, ‘I can boil. He doesn’t deny that Susan B. Anthony, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and a host of other famous people accomplished amazing things, but he believes that we can’t reach the people we’re leading by giving them such role models. “Trying to inspire a student, trainee, peer, family member, etc. by suggesting that they become more like one of the people mentioned above makes about as much sense as trying to motivate a little boy who wants to be a lumberjack with Paul Bunyan. story. It’s an amazing story, but unrealistic. Instead, it introduces that kid to the local lumberjack who’s climbing the ladder of success.” After all, “today’s students will become us before they become the future heroes of the world.” So James says we need to tell our own stories and show that we’re human, and that’s where we’ll get the people we lead to connect with us.

In short, none of us is perfect, and when we pretend to be, people stop listening to us. Instead, we need to focus on trying to connect with others. Leading Imperfectly is full of examples of how to make those connections. The book is divided into a series of short, often humorous and always insightful essays, filled with true-to-life stories from James’ own life. Other topics cover the importance of learning to love others, how to avoid overcommitting because you can’t be everything to everyone, realizing that you don’t have all the answers, and some practical advice on the importance of valuing the time we put into it. have and give that time to the most important people in our lives. James also challenges us to look at the lies we tell ourselves that are holding us back in life, and to learn to listen to others so they will listen to us. (I imagine you know a lot about the importance of getting people to listen to you based on your improv experience.)

James’ humor provides comic relief in the midst of some of the more serious stories, but the humor always drives home his examples and makes his stories memorable. I also appreciate that while he speaks like someone who has been successful in life, his leadership background is not that of the typical leader who writes books on leadership (he is not a former CEO of a company or a famous athlete) and that makes let your points stand out to everyone. most As James knows, we are all leaders in some way in our lives. We are all role models for someone and often influence others in many ways. We can end up being a leader to the stranger we meet in the cafeteria or to a young child and not even know the power of our influence. As James says, “We all have the ability to educate. I challenge you to take action. Own who you are so you can be real to others.”

After reading Leading Imperfectly, I feel less inclined to hide my flaws and instead tell stories of how the mistakes I made got me to where I am today. James encourages us to lead from our failures, and it’s advice we can all listen to with relief and apply to better results for ourselves and all who may be watching or listening. Take a look at Leading Imperfectly. Between the laughs, there’s a bit of wisdom that will stay with you long after you turn the last page.

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