Lead with Confidence, not Arrogance

Who You Are Matters

Lead with confidence, not arrogance.

“Leaders with confidence help people. Leaders with ego hurt people because they use and abuse other people.” ~ John C. Maxwell

In most organizations, people on the front lines are promoted into leadership positions because they are good at what they do. They have demonstrated they are competent. Their job is to come in everyday and make things happen. When they can do that effectively and repeatedly, they begin to stand out. In other words, they begin to shine.

Shiny objects get noticed, so do shiny people. 

There’s a good chance you are one of them whether you’ve been promoted already or whether you want to be promoted. How do I know that? Because shiny people read leadership articles and books.

If you haven’t been promoted yet and want to be or are struggling to be promoted again, I highly recommend reading Blue-Collar Leadership®: Leading from the Front Lines. I specifically wrote it as resource for high impact leaders to use to develop their team members on the front lines who don’t have positions of authority.

Note: Blue-Collar Leadership was written in an easy to read format with 30 chapters, three pages each and is perfect for books studies with your team. In it, I teach front line team members without a position of authority how to shine. I teach them to shine in a way that allows them to be noticed by the right people, high impact leaders, and how to get promoted for the right reasons, both character and competency.

There’s something else I know from my 10 years working on the front lines early in my career: THERE ARE A LOT OF HUNGRY PEOPLE WORKING THERE.

I don’t mean they want a meal.

I mean they want to be more, do more, and have more.

They want a raise. The really hungry ones want a raise, more responsibility, and a promotion. They want to be the boss. They work hard to prove they know what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.

Unfortunately, the hungriest among them are usually ridiculed and talked about by their peers. You may have been one of them. If so, you already know what I’m trying to explain. You also know the situation you are in when you do get the promotion and are expected to lead that same group of people.

When the hungry people can do it better than anyone else and there’s an opening, they get promoted, and they’re happy about it. That’s usually how it works, best case.

Worst case, no one really wants to be promoted, so the boss uses his/her authority and promotes someone who doesn’t want the promotion and responsibility, so they’re not happy about it.

One of these two scenarios happens most of the time in blue-collar organizations. There is also a third and fourth scenario where someone transfers from another department or is brought in from the outside. But in most cases, blue-collar managers and supervisors want someone from the area who knows how to do the job because managers are not looking for leaders, they are looking for doers.

The hungry know what to do, but do they know how to lead?

Most often, the answer is no.

Many are given a leadership position and told to lead because they know how to get the work done themselves, not because they know how to lead others.

Most of the people on the front lines have never had any leadership development training of any kind. They are typically the most overlooked and underdeveloped members in any organization.

The front lines are also where most of the people usually work too, so not developing them has a huge negative impact on the organization whether the managers know it or not.

Leaders definitely know it!

Most often, the people filling the front line leadership positions are also hungry, underutilized people. They may have a lot of confidence because that’s what got them there. But, to be a high impact leader, they will need to add humility to the equation.

Confidence alone is never enough. 

Lack of humility may have gone unnoticed when they were only responsible for themselves. Or, it may not have mattered if their boss only valued results. But, when you start to lead others, humility will matter. And, it will matter a lot.

Merriam-Webster’s definition of humility:

• the quality or state of not thinking you are better than other people

If literally being “better” than other people is what got you the position you have, it may be hard to not think you’re “better.”

According to many others, I’m “better” than a lot of people.

I’ve been told that my entire life. But, I don’t think I’m “better.”

I think I’m different.

“Humility is not thinking less of yourself. It’s thinking of yourself less.” ~ C. S. Lewis 

There’s a fine line between confidence and arrogance. It’s called humility.

Humility is a choice.

Confidence – Humility = Arrogance

If you choose to serve your team as a high impact leader, that alone will show your humility to the team. Only leaders who are truly humble will make the choice to serve their team.

Managers of people walk through the door every day to be served by their team. High impact leaders walk through the door every day to serve their team.

Which do you prefer to report to? A manager? Or, a high impact leader?

“The people are just fine; it’s our leadership that’s lacking. When people perform poorly, most leaders are quick to blame them, perhaps even fire them right away. It takes introspection and humility to admit, ‘That might be a consequence of my poor leadership.’” ~ Bob Chapman