Yesterday, I was inspired by a Seth Godin post about taking on more responsibility.
I remember back to my political organizing days, when I helped build party grassroots organizations for a living. If I had a dollar for every local county chairman who wanted power and clout by virtue of their political title… They would most often say something like “Hey, I am the Smith County Republican Chairman, dammit. The governor should seek my counsel on decisions just because I am the chairman!”
Doesn’t happen this way. Power, respect, influence, or as Godin cites, authority, doesn’t come from titles. It comes from doing. Shipping. Delivering. Taking action.
Inevitably, when I came across a local party chairman who uttered those words to me, and whined because he had no respect, I would respond “well, if you build a party machine that actually delivers votes and consistently wins elections for local candidates, you will get all the power and respect you can handle!”
Of course, that wasn’t easy. And it took a lot of work. It wasn’t something many were willing to do. They just wanted to get the power they wanted by virtue of the title.
And that’s why most people fail.
In his post, Godin suggests the best way to get authority is not by your title, it is by taking on more responsibility. Like my party chairman above, it takes work and effort to get the power, authority, respect and influence that you want.
And if you really step back and think about it, it really just comes down to taking action. Deciding to move forward. Doing. You don’t even have to achieve success every time.
Key thing is? Most people don’t take the first step. They don’t want more responsibility. They want the easy way. They want the title, and then they want the respect that comes from the title…
Instead…try these things:
1. As Godin suggests, volunteer for new responsibility. Just doing this sets you apart from most.
2. Just do it. Several people marveled at my e-book project. Nothing to it. I just decided to undertake the project.
3. Write about it. Use a blog to share what you know and serve others.
4. Help others. Taking action to help others succeed, makes you succeed. [btw...this makes you influential]
5. Relish being held accountable. Take responsibility for your actions and those of your team. Ultimately, you will be in an organization that appreciates this. This is where leaders are born…
So just do it. Volunteer for a new task today. You will take a giant leap in becoming a little more influential in your organization!
What do you think?
[photo from dbking on flickr]
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