Paying the Bill

Paying the Bill of Leadership

Part of leadership and the commitment to your own personal self growth journey is being with the reactions and opinions of those who knew you at one stage, and are struggling to relate to you in another.

Often this requires us to pay someone else’s bill - one that we never asked for. Moreover, it requires us to choose what bills, and whose bills, we are willing to pay.

This is the cost and burden of leadership. By declaring oneself a leader, more is expected, and people (followers, teammates, confidants) inadvertently put their unconscious expectations, connotations, and trauma on you. It’s not their fault. It’s not your fault. It just is. To be surprised by this is to forget - or ignore - the responsibility and burden that comes with declaring oneself a leader.

Of course, you do not need to pay every bill you are given. There will be expensive bills you are given that you are committed to paying because they align with your vision, values and beliefs… so you will pay them. They will be written off as the “Tax of What I Am Creating”.

And then there will be bills you will be given that run counter to your vision, values and beliefs… and your job in that moment will be to decide if you are willing to pay that bill or pass it on. The choice to pass the bill is not bad or wrong. Your job is simply to know the difference.

You might notice that as your capacity to “be with” as a leader increases, so to does my “bank account”. And the more clear you are about not having to pay every bill, the more ready and willing you will be to pay them.