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My mentor, Phillip, asked, “Where’d this thing with you putting your hands in the pockets come from?” I didn’t know the answer. It appeared that I just picked up a habit of sticking my hands in my suit pockets. And I didn’t know why. A no-no in the world of presenting is hands in pockets.
John, the other trainer I was working with said, “I’ll take responsibility for that.” It turned out that he has the habit of sticking his hands in suit pockets.
The week before I spent 40 hours in 3 days with the John, the hands in the pockets trainer. I saw him put his hands in his pockets time and time again. I wasn’t even aware of it. He was leading by example. He didn’t know it. But my actions showed he was.
We are all leaders. We are all followers. We lead. How? We lead by example. When we’re not leading by example, we’re leading by example.
What example are you setting? It could be your language. The way you treat others. The way you treat your teammates. The way you bite your nails. How you share credit with others. How you turn the other cheek. The way you love your wife when you get pissed off at her. The way you respect your husband even though you just saw him looking some other woman’s butt.
You’re an example. Be the best example you can. Someone is following.
Related articles
- Leadership Lessons from the Saddle (blogs.hbr.org)
