“Your actions define your character, your words define your wisdom, but your treatment of others defines REAL you.”
― Mayur Ramgir
Who would forget the ever-famous line of Peter Parker’s grandfather? With great power comes great responsibility. Society expects Spiderman, a comic book, TV, and movie superhero, to oversee saving his town, or even the world, in some instances, from evil because he has superpowers.
From all the episodes he appeared in, he never let us down. With his power, he makes sure to manage using it for the good of the people around him.
Leadership is not at all different from being a superhero. Yes, you may not have superpowers like Superman and Spiderman, but you have the authority to lead other people towards success. This is so much greater and stronger since it is a power that real people in this real world can use.
Hence, a leader needs an excellent sense of responsibility, the second quality a successful leader should reach.
The power to lead your people toward your vision comes with responsibilities like ensuring they are in the right direction, being aware of everyone’s tasks and mistakes, and putting them back on the right track when they get lost.
Who said it is easy to be a leader? Well, it is not. It comes with tons of responsibilities. True leaders are willing to accept them all.
There are instances where sometimes it makes us feel better to blame somebody or something else when something goes wrong in a task. However, this should not be, especially by a good leader!
A leader should take full responsibility for a task – not just before he accepts to take it, but also after it has been conducted. As much as he manages his team’s success, he should address any failure. He is the whole team, so whatever happens to it, he is the one responsible.
Making excuses and blaming something or someone else for failed jobs is not a quality of a good leader. What he should do, instead, is to accept the fact that something went wrong with the organization, even if it is not his fault. It is normal to make mistakes. Mistakes are opportunities to gain experience and something better. As a leader, he must ensure that the team members learn from these mistakes and that these errors will not be repeated next time.
You may not fully control other people and are not expected to control their actions fully, but you have complete control of your reactions. Knowing what to do over unexpected and unpredictable situations will make you responsible, hence giving you the feeling of power.