I had a mind blowing thought today as I was driving.  We humans are a masterpiece.  I’m speaking specifically to the way we’re made.  The sheer complexity of our DNA and how our body knows what to do without any outside assistance. 

The above thoughts sent me thinking about what an AWESOME responsibility it is to lead other human beings.  And at the end of the day, this is what most managers don’t get.  It’s like someone who throws diamonds into the garbage disposal right along with yesterday’s leftovers.  You’d call that insane.

I learned the hard way about the responsibility in leading.  You get fame and fortune (relative to the stage you walk on) and almost inevitably you forget-forget about who is looking to you for direction.  Believe me it wasn’t the mirror.  It wasn’t until I observed the hunger and scars of the people in my last stint (about 10 years ago) in corporate America, that I began to see my AWESOME responsibility.  They hungered for someone to do the right thing and care.  The scars were from the deep wounds of managers who didn’t care about anything except their agenda and or ladder.

I’ll never forget a meeting I was participating in where a mission statement was being crafted.  Everyone agreed that serving our customers was an important part to have in the statement.  But there was a block. as 11 executives attempted to create something inspiring.  I then suggested that we add verbiage around serving our employees.  Silence.  More silence.  The idea was rejected and never adopted.  A few minutes later I leaned over to one of my colleagues and asked him how we could serve our customers, but not serve our employees?  Silence, with a shrug.

The issue comes back to management-senior and otherwise-not understanding their responsibility.  They don’t get it.

In the coming days we’ll unwrap how to overcome the confusion and how to move to leading from responsibility. Who knows, maybe we’ll start a rehab clinic for managers.