What Kind of Leader are you and who do you want to become?

Foreign. Here's another conversation in our Leadership Conversation series. This question that I have is what kind of leader are you and what kind of leader do you want to be? Right. There is a kind of leader that we've evolved to, that we've arrived to at this point in the business, in our life. And that probably isn't the kind of leader that, that you'd like to be in the long run and probably isn't the thing that's going to be really be satisfying for you. Probably what got you here, won't take you there, won't get you there. That's the Marshall Goldsmith quote, book title. So on the thing that he taught us, well, so listen here, I want to give you the secret to figuring out who you need to become who you want to become that will actually be satisfying for you. Back in the early 2000s, I found myself in a place where I was just miserably stuck in my life. And yet I had everything that I had said that I'd wanted. I'd said that I wanted to have a business and be married to a beautiful woman with also an entrepreneur and we were going to have kids and a house and things like that. Right? Now I had those things in the early 2000s and I was miserable and stuck. And I looked back at the kind of leader that I was and I got some coaching, thank God. And because I was failing as a dad, our three businesses were failing. I was just angry at my wife all the time, was frustrated with everything, right? So I got a coach and the coach said, you know, who are you? What kind of leader are you? And I'm like, well, I'm smart and I'm articulate and I'd been smart and articulate my whole life. I think I'm still somewhat smart and articulate today. It's a funny thing to say, but, but it's like a strength, right? Like being able to think my way through things and being like quick witted, quick to find the words to something, helped me to figure out and talk my way out of many things. Except now in the early 2000s, it wasn't working, it wasn't enough and it wasn't satisfying. Even if I was really clever. There was something else. So the exercise is really pretty simple. My coach just asked me to consider the end of my life if it turned out successfully. If I overcame all this stuff, like, what would I accomplish? Who did I want to be in that kind of thing? What was the end game of a successful story, right? And so I thought about the End of my life, and I thought about the people that I really loved. And after a successful life, and they're all gathering to remember me, I want them to say that I was one of the good guys, that I was generous, that I made a difference for people, and that lit me up. That was inspiring for me. I realized that underneath everything else, that's who I wanted to be. Now, being clever, smart, articulate had really nothing to do with that. Those are useful skills, but they didn't get me there. That quality of being generous and making a difference for other people had very little to do with the way I was living my life. In my business as leader. At that time, it was all about my accomplishments and my things and my promises and, like, all that kind of thing. And it wasn't about empowering other people. So when I realized that's what the end was, and I looked at the present life, I realized I had to make some changes. And I began from that moment to start to shift out. So the kind of leader that you are today is great and it's useful. But if you'll stop and consider where you want to go, we can then build on those strengths, whatever it is for you. Maybe you're a great planner or a phenomenal coach, or you're great at building relationships, or like, whatever your strengths are, right, we can build on those strengths, but with this sort of this purpose or this. This inspiration behind it all. So I was inspired to figure out that the purpose of my life was making a difference for other people, was being a contribution at the end of my life. That's what I wanted to be said. So that's my purpose. So when we get purpose closely like found, articulated, claimed there, and then we add it to the strengths, we can start to realign our life and take some new ground as a leader. I changed my career. We sold businesses. I worked together with my wife for many years. A lot of things changed from that moment. That insight in the early 2000s, that propelled me on through, you know, lots of challenges over the period of time. But as I look back at my life to this day, those things have fully connected. So the first question you want to ask is, what kind of leader are you now? And what's missing? Like, what is it that you'd like to be at the end of your life? And let's go to work on bringing some of whatever that is that's not there today in your life and integrate it to all the parts of your life. Anyway, I hope that's helpful for you gives you something to think about. The kind of leader you are today and who you want to evolve to become is critically important to evolving your leadership style and leveling up.