engage-ment

There go the people.
I must follow them for I am their leader.
Alexandre Ledru-Rollin

Engaging people is easy.  All you have to do is spend time with them.  Listen.  Offer some help, or at least helpful analysis.  Fix something.  Laugh with them.  Share a challenging vision of the future.  Understand the attraction of the current situation, and the fear of the (better) future.  the barriers to change, increase the awareness of the pain of the present, allow ownership, show your own vulnerabilities, own your mistakes....  That's all you have to do!  See?  Easy!

So easy that every leader does it.  Every. Day.  Always.  Right?  Obviously not.  That's where "show your own vulnerabilities" comes in. 

Come alongside those you lead.  You'll make fewer mistakes because, after time, those you lead will actually tell you things, will let you know about problems, and stop shielding you from the truth.  You have to CONNECT!     

"The real leader has no need to lead--
he is content to point the way."
Henry Miller

Gotta tell ya...Henry Miller was a great playwright, but he didn't know much about leadership.  Did he, in fact, ever lead anything of substance?  Any Henry Miller scholars out there?  [Still, he shows a common error: "I'm really good at something, so I'm really good at lots of things."]  Sorry, Henry, but leadership is not passive; you don't just tell people "go that-a-way," stand back, and call it leading.  Oh...and another thing: a good leader is never "content," Henry.

The leadership path is a journey of self-exploration, better self-understanding, and learning.  All kinds of stuff ya gotta learn--technology, law, math, process engineering, innovation techniques, how to have difficult conversations and handle tough situations.  But first and always, nosce te impsum.  (Know thyself.) You must draw wisdom from many different sources.  Using only a few sources of wisdom is...unwise.