Tip 227 - Caring Leadership 2: Lead from the Heart by Understanding Your Why

Simon Sinek promoted the concept of knowing or finding your why. In his book, Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, he referred to understanding the why as a focus of purpose, cause, or belief. Why do you get out of bed in the morning? It is also about defining the reason the organization exists. Why should anyone care?

Reflect for a moment on where your drive for leading comes from. If you believe your purpose is to influence and impact others in a positive way through leadership, then every decision you make and every action you take must be aligned with that purpose. Maybe you are driven to lead because of personal adversity, or due to exposure of wonderful mentors and leaders in and out of the organization, or through a deep calling to something good in the world. Figuring out and articulating your purpose in life and leading provides the road map for living it out loud.

A leader’s heart and how it is expressed tells others whether you genuinely care.