June 18, 2012 
As yesterday was Father’s Day, I was thinking about my father and the many things he taught me:
- You can do anything.
- Be humble and kind to those around you.
- Family is important.
- Have values and stick to them.
- Enjoy life.
He didn’t push me to be a star athlete. He didn’t push me to get a 4.0. He did have high expectations of me, but he was more focused on building my moral code than anything else. He wanted me to learn things like the games of Chess and Bridge. He wanted me to meet lots of people. He wanted me to do chores and contribute to the household. He wanted me to have a job. He’d take me to play golf or tennis or any other sport, but only for fun, not to try to build the next pro athlete.
This made me think about other types of leaders that I’ve experienced in my life:
- Leader as mentor who takes you under their wings and tries to open your eyes to new possibilities
- Leader as teacher who is constantly trying to get you to try new things to become better
- Leader as friend who is trying to know you and hang out with you to build loyalty
- Leader as genius who is just amazingly smart and someone you want to try to be around
- Leader as innovator or entrepreneur who is pushing the envelope and trying to change the world and motivates through big ideas
- Leader as workaholic who simply motivates by working so hard that you try to keep up
- Leader as prison guard who motivates through punishment and yelling who motivates through fear of losing your job
- Leader as preacher who captivates you with stories and vision that motivates you in a cult like fashion
Is anyone perfect? Probably not, but thinking about Father’s Day got me thinking about the leader as father model who blends some of all of these. Friend, Preacher, Teacher, Punisher, Genius, Workaholic, etc. They provide you a model to follow and have a vested interest in your success whether it’s working for them or working somewhere else. They care about you being the best that you can.
Bravo!