Driven Leaders and Selfish Ambition

One of the highlights about being a leader is you get to see & experience things many other people do not.  From lives being changed, traveling around the world with people, creative planning processes and first hand being an influence for someones or an organizations life.

However, with leadership comes power and the ability to make executive decisions.  There is no doubt that certain leaders make some of those decision based on personal preferences or biases.  And leaders are hired and given the opportunity to lead with their own convictions, strengths and drive.  They are hired for a reason.

So when does healthy leadership and selfish leadership have noticeable differences?

I've often thought this is a tricky question because the filter of what is healthy and what is selfish can be subjective to an individual response.  What I may perceive as healthy another can interpret as selfish or biased.  But even with that I think there are some general guidelines for healthy leadership vs selfish leadership.

-- Healthy leadership leads from a place of collectiveness for the sake of the team, organization and greater drive to accomplish the goals without running over people.

-- Selfish leaders makes decisions based on being right or winning the argument.

-- Healthy leadership care about productivity as well as the employee.

-- Selfish leadership cares more about the productivity than the employee.

-- Healthy Leadership is contagious & attractive.

-- Selfish leadership burns people out

-- Healthy Leadership shows genuine care.

-- Selfish leadership cares genuinely about their agenda.

--Healthy Leadership serves before dictates

--Selfish leadership sits on the sidelines before serving

-- Healthy Leadership cares about longevity

-- Selfish leadership is short term & often reactionary

I know these are general statements but for me I've seen both the healthy & selfish side of leadership in those I've worked with as well as at times in my own leadership.  I also know that the leaders I respect, am drawn to learn from and willing to go the extra mile with are those who carry attributes of healthy leadership.  Leadership is not an easy road but whenever you have the chance to lead my hope is we lead well and care about the bigger picture and not just our own personal bias.