And You Lead ...?

The professors sat in a wide semicircle idly wondering if this day’s professional development presentation would be interesting, helpful, or a total waste of time.

After a brief introduction, the presenter stood at one side of the semicircle, gestured to the participant sitting there and asked, “And you teach …?” After a moment’s hesitation the woman responded, “English.” Moving to the next person the presenter again asked, “And you teach …?” A bit more confident, having seen where this was going, the man said, “Biology.” After working his way around the room, the presenter stood for a moment looking at the group. Answers to his question had ranged from Greek mythology, to childhood development, to music composition.

Following a pause that was just long enough to be uncomfortable the presenter asked, “Don’t any of you teach students?”

I wonder if we asked, “And you lead …?” how many leader’s answers would be something like human resources, digital marketing, sales, or product development. And I wonder how our leadership might improve if we started each day remembering the truth, “I lead people.”