Today we continue with part 2 of the leadership lessons from Superman. Let get started.
Leadership is about Selflessness
Superman is a superhero who is considered to be the most powerful being on earth. He is known for his selflessness, which is why he always puts others before himself. This is a leadership lesson that everyone can learn from. He has always been taught that being selfless has always been the right thing to do. Most of the time, we would be seeing Superman swooping in and saving the day over and over again versus saying “eh, I’ll save them tomorrow”.
The type of leadership that Superman exhibits can easily be applied to the workplace. Leaders of every profession should strive to put their team’s needs first and foremost in order to have more productive and happier team. When the team grows, they grow together. Vice versa, when the team don’t grow, they don’t grow together.
Leadership is about Decisiveness
Decisiveness is the quality of making decisions quickly and firmly. It is an essential leadership quality for achieving goals by guiding your team with decisions. This comes the knowing what decisions to make, ensuring it is the best possible decision. Every decision may not always turn out good but it is better than just not moving forward. Even a bad decision can be a lesson of what not to do.
The leadership lessons that superheroes offer into leadership are that they are decisive and inspire others to take up challenges with them. This is a trait that can be applied in any type of situation. But if you take your time in being decisive, it can lead the team to think, “Does our ‘leader’ know what to do?” and they may not be inspired with your direction.
Leadership is about Bravery
Superman is the ideal superhero. He saves people from natural disasters, from crumbling buildings, from wars, from supervillains. He leads by example and leads with bravery. He assesses the situation and dive in without thinking twice.
Leadership today should be about courage and risk-taking just like Superman does it. The world that we live in is full of uncertainties and the only way to deal with it is to embrace risks and to take brave decisions that can transform lives for better or for worse. There will always be risk. It’s about taking calculated risk. This is the next leadership lesson.
In one of my experience at work, I was collecting data, tons of data. Analyzing them over and over again to come up with the best 100% result. Although it was great to aim for 100% of the total data analyze, it actually paralyzed me. It paralyzed me from taking risk; calculated risk. Why? 1. There was an overwhelming amount of data. 2. With great data, came many questions of ‘What if?’. What if the 1% became true? What if 80% doesn’t work at all? and all the other ‘What ifs?’. 3. With multiple ‘What ifs?’, it turned into fear. I was not brave enough to make a decision of which strategy would work best for the team.
“Leadership is not about being right all the time. It’s about having courage and doing what’s right.”
Brigette Hyacinth
Leadership is about Accessibility
Superman is a superhero with an incredible power to do anything. But what makes him the most powerful of all is the fact that he is accessible. He understands that his powers are not for show or to make him more superior than others. He makes himself available for others as much as he can.
It’s important for leaders to be more accessible and approachable because it helps them create a healthier workplace culture. When team members feel heard, they are more likely to buy into company values and stay committed to the company’s success. It can be things like saying ‘Hello!’ at the office corridor, going for lunch with team members or even asking or allowing their opinions or feedback to be heard in the team meeting.
Leadership is about Transparency
Next leadership lesson, transparency. No, not X-ray vision (although it may be interesting to have). The ultimate goal of transparency is to provide insight into the inner workings of an organization. Transparency helps cultivate accountability, bolster trust, and even improve the bottom line. These are all things that are essential in any relationship or interactions. Superman leadership is about being truthful and showing the world who you truly are for better or for worse. In the working environment, it’s being truthful of what the organization truly are for better or for worse.
In order to lead a team of people, you need transparency and honesty. It’s not always easy to be truthful with your employees, but it’s the only way they will trust you. You can’t tell them one thing and do another or they will never feel like you have their best interests in mind.
You need an open-door policy where everyone knows they can come talk to you about what they are going through. That way, if something is going wrong on the team, you’ll know before it becomes too late.
Conclusion
Leadership is an art that has been adapted to the 21st century values. It’s not just about making tough decisions, but also about being accessible to team members. Although Superman was created in the 20th century (1938), we could all take a cue from Superman and find out how better leader he is by following his values.
