What's the best part of being in a leadership role? - SmartBrief

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What’s the best part of being in a leadership role?

The most recent SmartBrief on Leadership poll question: What's the best part of being in a leadership role?

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Leadership

What's the best part of being in a leadership role?

SmartBrief

SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Leadership — tracks feedback from more than 200,000 business leaders. We run the poll question each week in our newsletter.

What’s the best part of being in a leadership role?

  • Helping my team members develop, grow and succeed: 52%
  • Having control over the way things run: 4%
  • Being able to set direction, take risks and make things happen: 34%
  • Being visible and valued in the organization: 6%
  • Overcoming the challenges leaders face every day: 3%
  • Something else: 2%

Making stuff happen and developing others. The two clear winners in this poll are how much you enjoy making things happen and developing your team members. Both are great rewards for any leader. The interesting thing is they’re both outward-facing in that the impact is about the environment around you versus the impact of the role on you. While I recognize these polls are simple and these are complex topics, there are clear patterns. If you happen to be inward-facing in your leadership, I encourage you to take a moment to look at the broader impact you’re having. The things you’re getting done and your impact on helping people grow may be much larger than you expect. You will likely also find the rewards of that impact far exceed the inward-facing rewards of how your role makes you feel. 

Mike Figliuolo is managing director of thoughtLEADERS, which includes TITAN — the firm’s e-learning platform. Previously, he worked at McKinsey & Co., Capital One and Scotts Miracle-Gro. He is a West Point graduate and author of three leadership books: “One Piece of Paper,” “Lead Inside the Box” and “The Elegant Pitch.”