Being a leader comes with responsibilities

Yet another lesson that I learned in 2020. And even if you don't think that you are a leader in your business, I really want you to pay attention to this one because I definitely did not think I was a leader of any kind.

Yes, I share a lot of thought leadership content. But I didn't actually believe that I was a leader of any kind until somebody asked me in a virtual panel that I was speaking on about the responsibilities of being a leader and what I thought leadership was. And I actually realized while I was answering that question, “Oh, okay. Maybe I am a leader. Maybe all of us in business are leaders in some way, shape or form.” And that really got me thinking about a lot of my responsibilities as a leader.

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3 ways you need to show up as a leader in your niche

 

1. Embody your own values

One of the first things that came up was when I started working with my coach, she started talking a lot about how there's a responsibility as a leader to embody the things that you value, the things that your business and you personally stand for. So for example, you might see a lot of business owners being like, “Oh, integrity is my biggest value.” And then they're going and doing things, taking actions in their business that don't have integrity behind them. Or somebody might say, “Empathy is my biggest value.” And then you see them acting in a situation where they're not paying any respect to the other person's feelings.

So for me, my biggest personal values and my biggest business values are the same because I am a personal brand. And for me, that is freedom, fun, courage. Those things are so important to me. So what is really equally important then is how I'm showing up embodying those values as a leader in my business. So for example, I embody the value of freedom by building a business that gives me the freedom to take days off, to take a month off and go in a camper van, which I'm doing next month and I can't wait. Likewise, with the value of fun, I have a responsibility to demonstrate to my audience how I'm embodying that. And not everyone's going to resonate with that. That's totally fine. A big part of being a leader is allowing yourself to not be liked by everybody and to not feel like you have to be for everybody. There are going to be some people who don't resonate with you. And that's a good thing. That some of the best leaders out there are incredibly polarizing.

 

2. Upskilling to better serve your audience

Another big responsibility that I realized I have as a leader is up-skilling myself so that I can continue to serve my students better. And that is why I invested over $20,000 in coaching for six months. That is why I spent over $10,000 on various courses. That is why I'm in a mastermind so that I can serve my students better and improve my own skills as a leader and show up for my audience better.

 

3. Being completely transparent about your journey

Another big responsibility that I realized I have – and was one that I really had to step into in 2020 with my business growth and with a lot of people who only really discovered me last year when I'd already grown my business – I realized I had a responsibility to be completely transparent with my business journey. To be vulnerable with my audience about the things that I struggled with, to get to the point where I was last year and the point where I am now, and just radical honesty about everything that's gone into the situations.

Yes. It would be so easy for somebody who just started following me in September last year to be like, “Oh, Steph has a million-dollar business. She was an overnight success.” But that person doesn't necessarily know about the failed launches I had, the failed business that I had to close down, the times that I pivoted. So as a leader, I owe it to my audience, and I would say that you also owe it to your audiences, to be incredibly transparent about your journey and to share the things that feel really uncomfortable to share. Last year, I talked about how rapid growth led to me curled up in a ball on my couch crying because I was so afraid that it was all going to disappear. That wasn't comfortable to talk about. But I want people to realize that it's not smooth sailing, that succeeding comes with its struggles as well. New level, new devil.

And I honestly think that more leaders out there could do this. They could be more vulnerable and transparent and honest and open about their journeys rather than just selling the seven-figure dream, “Yeah, here's the seven-figure dream, but also here's the reality of it.”

It's not just going to be private jets and bottles of champagne. I mean, wouldn't that be amazing? I have yet to fly out a private jet. So I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon. But I think people need to be a lot more real with their journeys. And that's one of the big responsibilities I've realized as a leader.

So I hope that this has got you thinking about what you are responsible for to your audience. Regardless of what kind of audience you have, whether your audience of business owners or just everyday people in a job, whoever your audience is, I think we owe it to them to be completely honest and transparent.

 

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