I've just had one of the busiest days for my business. I worked 13 hours today and I'm tired! I haven't had to work like that in a long time. I do enjoy working like that but I am very lucky to have amazing employees that work just as hard as I do.
Over the past decade I have used different philosophies for leadership. When I hired my first employee I though that being stern and making sure I watched their every move would help me to save money. I assumed that they would make less mistakes if I watched them like a hawk. However, keeping a close eye on them made them very nervous and resulted in more mistakes. I would say things like "...don't you know what you are doing..." or, my favorite "...what's wrong with you?"
As we built the business, we added employees. When we had 10 employees I started to notice a pretty high turn-over and training was extremely costly, but important. I would ask outgoing employees why they were leaving and about every other person would say that it was the leadership. I actually thought they were wrong...Until I realized that there was a major issue with my work environment.
I started to change from being a boss to being a leader. We have a "Leaderboard" hanging on the wall in all my restaurants. On the Leaderboard we post everyone's timings on various jobs like making pizzas or dough. I used to not include my timings because "I'm the owner, why would I need to do that?" But when I started posting my timings and they saw that I was actually faster than most people, they started respecting me, not fearing (I think)
As the years rolled on I gained many new employees and I now have 50 people on my payroll. There is no way that we could have grown the business with a boss at the helm. It was only possible with a leader!
I will now work shifts in my restaurants and do the jobs that no one wants to do like scrubbing floors and, of course, clean bathrooms...
To me, being a leader is simple. Just be willing to do everything that you ask others to do. Sometimes you need to do it before they do and show them. I know this is a simple concept but actually practicing it is easy to get away from. Leadership is a slow grind. It will wear you down or sharpen you and the others around you.
Everyone has opportunities to be a boss or leader, be a leader!