What Remarkable Leaders Do that Average Leaders Don’t
Rosa Parks wasn’t the first black woman to stand up for herself in Montgomery, Alabama.
On March 2, 1955, nine months before Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, a skinny 15-year-old schoolgirl was yanked by both wrists and dragged off a very similar bus. (Newsweek)
Her name was Claudette Colvin.
Claudette was riding home on a city bus after school. The driver told her to give her seat to a white rider.
They took her off the Highland Gardens bus kicking and screaming. They charged her with assault and battery as well as transgressing city and state segregation laws. (Washington Post)
Claudette said, “It’s my constitutional right to sit here as much as that lady. I paid my fare, it’s my constitutional right.” (Biography)
“I felt like Sojourner Truth was pushing down on one shoulder and Harriet Tubman was pushing down on the other—saying, ‘Sit down girl!’ I was glued to my seat.”
The leader:
Claudette said, “When I got to 10th grade at Booker T. Washington High, I had a teacher, Miss Geraldine Nesbitt. I think she came from New York. She helped me begin to question things.”
Claudette’s teacher, Geraldine Nesbitt had emboldened her students, teaching them about the 14th Amendment.
What leaders really do:
Before Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat, Geraldine Nesbitt taught her who she was.
Performance reflects self-perception.
Performance expresses who you aspire to become.
Claudette said, “(Geraldine Nesbitt) told us to write down on paper what we were going to be. I folded mine up and gave it to her. It said I was going to be president of the United States.” (Washington Post)
That skinny schoolgirl didn’t become president or a symbol for the Civil Rights Movement. But a remarkable leader taught her who she was.
How do leaders impact the way people think about themselves?
How do people feel about THEMSELVES after spending time with you?
My reaction to this post is a resounding “YES!” I am THANKFUL for those leaders who have help me to clarify my role and path forward. My experience is that the leader has to be grounded themselves for the sake of eliciting this from others. Kudos to those who have influenced Geraldine Nesbitt as well!
Thanks RD. A great leader helps us believe in ourselves. It’s easy to create insecurity in others, but it takes intention and skill to build confidence in others.
I appreciate that you have included this perspective from someone who isn’t a white male. There are so many voices of leaders to study. Thanks for including Claudette’s in your post.
Thanks Nathan. I always thought Rosa Parks was the first. But it’s unrealistic to think the first person we know about is the first person to take action.
Leaders help people do the following:
1. Analyze their negative self-talk
2. Examine their limiting attitudes and beliefs
3. Probe their fears
4. Distinguish between what they can control and not control
Leaders help people get a more accurate picture of who they are and what they can achieve.
Thanks Paul. Love your list. You’ve captured important ideas that are often excluded from things leaders do. We’re all excited about casting vision, which is important, but I like the people focus of successful leaders.
All it takes is one good leader to override all those who told you “no you cant do it”. The human mind is built to overcome and to achieve great things. That is why it only takes one good leader to undo so many bad ones.
Thanks Walt. What an encouraging comment. My mind goes to the idea that it only takes one bad leader to suck us down. But when I think of my life, it was individual leaders who made a positive difference. Cheers
This post really excites me because: 1. I am being taught who I am by my mentors, and 2. I have been subconsciously practicing this with my coworkers. I am being developed and I am developing others around me. Apparently I am becoming a remarkable leader!!!
Way to go! I wish you well on the journey, Justin.
Performance reflects self-perception.& Performance expresses who you aspire to become. One can do this if so inclined as a leader or just a worker but its your choice. If one does not choose (for whatever reasons) to live and work this way I’ve found its difficult to boot someone into that mold. It is about passion and passion has to come internally by active action one takes, it can’t be beaten into one. Yes examples can be made but its a choice based on the self-perception and aspiration statements above. Yes Passionless people and workers really do bug me. They are missing out on so much of life’s richness.
Thanks Roger. The problem of low passion is a recurring theme in my coaching practice. It’s frustrating to have more aspirations for someone than they have for themselves.
Everyone has passion, but not all passions are useful to others. How does our passion help us serve others is a key question.
So Dan since you are seeing the passion issue come up in your coaching sessions and a number of us are seeing it out in work and family environments maybe it’s time to post something on the topic. How do we as leaders, parents, community members instill passion in others, what works best in building passion, what works best in rebuilding passion when it’s lost, what are the impacts of being passionate and the negative impacts on a team with members who are not passionate about their roles.
Thank you Dan. Excellent post. Lots to ponder! Great line – “Performance reflects self-perception.” If someone with evil intent wants me to be diminished, they will want me to believe lies that diminish me right from the start.
Thanks Robert. Your comment reminds me that it’s easy, maybe common in some places, to diminish people.
As an African-American woman, I’ve realized for some time that Rosa Parks wasn’t the first person who refused to give up her seat. Actually, it wasn’t Claudette Colvin either. The credit should go to former slave and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells. Ida B. Wells refused to give up her seat on a train in the 1800’s. If anyone cares to read about the story, please feel free to do so. You can find the story on the Internet.
Hopefully, one day, America will show the true history of African-Americans.
In addition to reading this article, I enjoyed reading the links. I like how you demonstrated the seeds of leaders. I like how you showed the several vital people contribute to the recognized leader. There are a lot of very humble leaders.Thanks for the article!
Thanks for posting this; it was refreshing and a reminder that you don’t have to bear a title of CEO or anything close to that to be a true leader. You can be a leader right where you are and be a great influencer of those all around you at any level.