Take off your crown

Originally published on LinkedIn on February 28, 2015 By Brandon Marshall.
Leaders want to know, “What will make my followers like me and do what I want them to do?” But the focus shouldn’t be on the leader – it should be on the followers.
If you want people to follow you, you’ll take off that big crown you worked so hard to earn, put it aside and come down off your throne to meet your followers at their level. Your followers’ job isn’t to make you feel special. Your job is to make your followers feel special.
You want someone to do important work for you? Then make that person feel important. You want someone to share his/her special insight with you? Then act like that person’s insight is special to you – and, most importantly, listen carefully to what that person has to tell you. You want someone to be loyal to you? Then be loyal to that person.
Leaders sometime make the mistake of assuming, “My followers have to do what I tell them to do because I’m the leader and they have no choice.” But if I’m sick of a leader, I can join another team easier than I can go through the trouble of changing the leader’s mind.
Your followers are as important to your team as you. In fact, they may be more important than you, because there’s more of them than you. So take off your crown. Come down off your throne. Listen. Inspire. Share. Empower. You need your followers and you need your followers to know how important they are to you.