If you missed Leadercast this past week then you missed out on some great leadership content! But no worries you and your team can catch up quickly. I’m going to post my notes and thoughts from each of the sessions over the next couple of days! First up was Andy Stanley…enjoy!

“Beyond you leaders are leaders who fearlessly and selflessly empower leaders around them and as well as those coming along behind them”

Fearlessly: This means you’re not afraid of the 25-year-old leader in your organization that knows more than you. They’re smarter, they’re cooler, they’re hipper, they have newer ideas. The beyond you leader pours into this young leader even though they may take their place in the organization someday.

Empower: This means every single leader has power. If you set somebody’s schedule or salary then you have power. Empowering others means leveraging your influence and power for the sake of the people around you.

• The value of a life is always measured by how much of it was given away
• At the end of a life we always celebrate generosity and selflessness
• The value of your leadership will always be measured by not by accumulation but by how much of it was given away
• While we may celebrate generosity we envy accumulation
• If we are not careful and intentional about our leadership being beyond you and not about you, you’ll look back one day and think about what could have been

3 Ways to become a beyond you leader

1. Make as few decisions as possible: One of the most empowering things you can do for those around you is to allow others to make decisions that you could make. If you have the power to make a decision and you give someone else the opportunity to make the decision, you’ve just empowered someone else to lead. Practice saying “you decide”

• One of the best ways to build consensus and ownership in your organization is to give the power to make decisions away.
• As your organizational authority increases, your organizational I.Q. decreases – as you have more and more things under your authority and you will know less and less about more and more things.
• If you don’t allow others to make decisions you are going to be compelled to make decisions about things you know nothing about.
• The best way to find out who the best decisions makers are in your organization is to allow other to make decisions
• Just because you have the authority doesn’t mean you need to exercise your authority

2. Work for your team: Ask this question to your team…what can I do to help? Leverage your talent and authority to help you teams dreams come true.

3. Empty your cup: You don’t have everything you need to fill your teams cup. Our responsibility isn’t to fill their cup but it’s our responsibility to empty our cup. Not because that’s all there is to know but it’s all you know.

• Don’t wait until you’re the boss to do this. Start where you are at. Because if you don’t you’ll think you got there by hoarding instead of by helping.
• If your leadership isn’t all about you it will live beyond you, but if your leadership is all about you it won’t live beyond you except for serving as someone’s bad example.