Are you ready to be a great leader?

Great leadership can be described as “absolute love and devotion for the people who committed their lives” to something. This quote by Simon Sinek during a recent interview resonated a lot with me.

Based on my experience, great leadership means caring about the people you lead, wanting to see them shine and grow, being mindful of what is important to them, connecting with them heart and soul.

Great leaders will prove they care about their people daily – simply by acting it out. Not just once or twice, they will consistently do small, almost imperceptible actions. Every. Single. Day. Looking people in the eye when they speak; listening deeply and considering others’ perspectives – even if they disagree; responding thoughtfully to what others ask or need. There are many ways to show someone that you care. Think about how people treat you and leave you feeling “this person truly cares about me”. Considering the impact of those consistent caring behaviors you receive, don’t you feel compelled to live up to them, and to be worthy of more caring behaviors?

Consistency is an essential trait of great leadership – you prove that you genuinely care about people when you do small acts of service every single day.

By doing that, great leaders nurture courage, which means being brave enough to show up and face the hardship of daily challenges. Great leaders surround themselves with a network of people who will support each other through rough times, people who believe in them – even when they lose their confidence. Courage means to tell your truth, even if you know it will not make you popular; to allow yourself to open up and be vulnerable; to speak up when you witness or experience unfairness or disrespect. Remember the last time you did something courageous, how did people respond? And how did that make you feel?

Quoting Simon Sinek again, “courage comes from the support we feel from others (…) when you feel that someone has your back”.

When great leaders have people’s back, they foster an environment of trust, which in turn sparks people’s courage and authenticity. People feel safe to be themselves when they trust the people around them, when they sense there will be no negative consequences of sharing who they are. By speaking their mind; by leveraging their strengths; by showing up without wearing a mask to work. Both consistency and courage help people do that, even more so if they are role modeled by the leader they look up to. How does trust look to you? What do people do that makes you trust them?

In essence, great leaders generate strong and deep relationships between inspired people who care.

In today’s world, companies are concerned with sustainability, respecting the planet, delighting customers and having happy and engaged employees – and for all this to become real we need great leaders because they will care and inspire others to care alongside with them. Great leaders apply consistency, courage and caring to make sure the people and businesses they work for, contribute to improve the world. They want to serve a purpose they believe in, which fuels them with the necessary energy to do the best they can every day.

People who care about the people they lead, will not only help them become a better version of themselves, they will also inspire them to become better leaders. And that’s what this world desperately needs.

And now, my dear reader, to be consistent with the principle of being the change we want to see, I challenge you to take a moment and reflect on the following questions:

• What is the purpose that inspires you?
• How do you foster deep and meaningful relationships?
• How do you actively create an environment of trust?
• What was the most courageous thing you did recently?
• When was the last time you had someone’s back?
• How do you show people around you that you genuinely care for them?

You can learn more about becoming a great leader in our ASPIRE programs powered by GAIA Insights. This post was inspired by Simon Sinek’s interview with Tom Bilyeu and by my amazing leaders at GAIA Insights who encourage me to be a great leader every day.

Information about the author Valeria Torino can be read below. Furthermore, you can read about Valeria, Program Mentor on the GAIA Insights website here