You Can't Go Back

Every week All Access headlines promotions across radio or the music business. In the next 24 hours, someone will be invited to step into a leadership role. On a wider front, an enlisted rank can become a commissioned officer. A freshman quarterback will be asked to step in after an all-star falls from an injury. A top-gun seller will be invited to become sales manager; more responsibility than he or she ever imagined when they entered their career. Some will win, some will fail. If you happen to be "next person in," it's important to remember that management and leadership are not necessarily synonymous.

Brilliant leadership does not come from voodoo or wizardry but instead from common sense under fire -- intelligence, empathy, and the obsession to perform where someone else couldn't. There is a price tag and pitfalls are waiting just around the corner when a new leader assumes command. They are universal, unplanned, and unavoidable.

If you're entering this realm know that one of the most common opponents of successful leadership rides on a misunderstanding of one's role change once you've become the boss as relates to "what was" regarding colleagues and friends with whom you've worked. Failing to grasp this discrete dichotomy has brought down many a freshman leader (though you won't find this lesson on a video or in a handbook). Realizing that "crossing-of-the-line" comes hard, but cross you must, from "one of the group" to leader of a department or the building. This does not suggest special status or privilege; instead an understanding that to be fair, to be objective, you can't be everyone's best friend.

The identity switch from who you were and who you must now be is hugely influential on how well and how rapidly you make the transition to the leadership profile. Many can't make this leap into the "new," instead misreading their new role as a way to sustain past friendships and continuing camaraderie. Many readily recognize that it's lonely being the boss. And it's a nice idea to believe that even though you're now "in charge," you can maintain your popularity and be held in high esteem by your colleagues. Nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, as a new leader you have to accept that many of your finest moments will come when you're largely un-applauded, fatigued and alone.

The very essence of being a leader means you will be required to make decisions that will affect peoples' lives, change the direction of a department and create unwelcome change, sometimes leading to temporary incivility within the ranks. As a new leader, your objective is to earn respect as opposed to popularity. There is no data column in your company's operating statement for "popularity per share." Being truly respected usually comes only after you've made a difference in your staff's accomplishments as they begin to acknowledge your style and integrity.

Stepping across the line means you can never go back -- not here ... not now. Your credibility is earned, never ordered.

The best leaders we know practice the Japanese proverb: If he works for you, you work for him.

So in the small hours when we reflect on our life and career, we must decide with confidence whether we can indeed "cross the line," then live with the commitment and consequences.