A Leader's Journey

Avoiding the Executive S.O.B.

A leader’s journey has two distinct parts: the inner and the outer. These can be difficult to reconcile. It’s like balancing shakily on a tightrope while trying to perform brain surgery. During your career, your outer journey will be easily visible to others. You move from your training to a technical expert to a manager to an executive. Along the way you’re using, perfecting and gaining valuable skills. But becoming a true leader amidst career growth, is an inner journey that’s difficult to categorize or observe. 

Confusion comes from the equivalency of the terms leader and executive. An executive is defined as someone who “exercises administrative or managerial control”, while the leader is “the person who guides or conducts”. Two completely definitions. One authoritarian, another kinder, gentler, and more inspiring. An executive is easily susceptible to our main enemies: Stress, Overwhelm, and Burnout. But a leader considers others, conducting business in a way that guides an organization successfully to a place of victory and accomplishment. 

An executive not balanced with good leadership skills, can easily fall into the category of dictator, which quickly alienates employees. In their 2016 poem, Classy J describes it simply and perfectly, “when you’re under a dictatorship there is no time for fun”. People do not want to waste their one life on this planet toiling for a spiteful dictator, they’ll seek any alternative they can find to escape. 

In my own life, I often have had to choose whether to behave as an executive or a true leader. Especially in times of crisis for the healthcare world and the global community, like we are currently facing, choosing to be a true leader instead of the self-serving executive is not an easy path to take. 

If you fear that your executive self threatens to overwhelm (see that?? Avoid the OVERWHELM!) your true inner leader, consider these statements. Being an executive is a matter of outer promotion, becoming a leader is a matter of inner elevation. Don’t make the mistake of only concentrating on a bigger title, higher salary and more prestige without ever working on your inner self. Finally, remember that this inner growth is essential to defeating Stress, Overwhelm, and Burnout. If you find yourself succumbing to any of these nasty foes, concentrate on your inner growth instead of outer accomplishments.