Author and motivational speaker, Jim Rohn, has a famous quote that says, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” This got me thinking. Who are the closest people to me and how do they help me be the leader I am meant to be?
The more I thought about this, the more it occurred to me that it is not just the five people closest to us that shape us. When you push this idea further, there are really five types of people that we need around us to truly be a great leader.
The five types of people we need around us are:
1. A person who refreshes you. These are the people who we just like to be around. They allow us to be our true selves. They don’t want or need anything from you, and they just let you be you. They are ones who just like to hangout, joke, laugh, and not take the world too seriously.
2. A person who is willing to take risks with you. This is someone who just believes in you. As a leader, it is important to have a person who does not question or challenge but just believes. This person is someone who trusts you. They know that whatever decision you make, it was done for the right reason and will take the risk and move forward alongside you.
3. A person who encourages you. Many people are insecure and under-encouraged. As leaders, we need to have a person who is always encouraging us. We need a person who challenges us to be our best and knows with the right encouragement we can be great. This person is so important because as a leader we are going to be called on to make decisions, hard decisions, and without a person to encourage us, we will struggle.
4. A person who will stand by you and defend you. As I have talked about in a previous Marty’s Minute, our Leadership Brand is what people say about us when we are not in the room. Having this person in your corner means having someone who will defend your brand and speak up for you when you are not in the room.
5. A person who is a loyal truth teller. This is the person who is not afraid to tell you the truth. This person is so important because we have given them permission to tell us about our imperfections and blind spots. As leaders, usually the things that get us into trouble are not being self-aware or knowing what our blind spots are. Hearing these things can be very difficult, but it is critical to have someone you trust and love be able to talk them through with you. There is no greater or more important friend to have.
Take a minute to look at the people around you. Do you have these five types of people supporting you? If you don’t, you might not be the leader you thought you were.
Until next time…I’m Marty, make every minute count.
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