What Leadership Is & Isn't
Host: Isaac Mashman · April 12, 2021 · Episode 50 · 15 minutes
Transcribed from the episode audio and edited to read cleanly: names and terms corrected, grammar fixed, filler words and false starts removed, punctuation added. Words in [brackets] could not be made out with certainty. Wording can differ slightly from what was said; the episode itself is the record.
[You're] listening to Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman. Wow, two years in and 50 episodes down, Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman is off with momentum. Yes, I started this podcast back in June of 2019 under a different name. Way back then it was called the Hustler's Choice podcast, and then I revamped it. I switched it up, I refocused, and here we are today in 2021 with an entirely different name and an entirely different vision and drive. But the message at the end of the day is still very, very similar. So guys, welcome to a very special episode. Today, I'm going to be talking to you about leadership.
Now, I've recently been fortunate enough to expand the team of Mashman Ventures, the public relations firm that I'm running, that I launched last year. I've brought on a bunch of new people. Yes, I've expanded the team to 11 people strong, and I have a couple more positions that I'm looking to bring people on for who see the vision. The topic of leadership really came up for me because I'm at a point right now where before, I was leading myself in the company that I was growing and building, but now that I'm bringing people on board, I have to lead other people. It seems to me like leadership is a topic that many people do not necessarily understand.
They think that leadership is about being the boss. They think that leadership is about giving orders and barking orders, and it's simply not true. That is not the case. I'm going to be diving into some of the misconceptions about leadership and how to be an effective leader. Before I go into that, I want to go ahead and ask for a favor. If you get any value from this episode, and this goes for every single episode that you listen to of this podcast, please share it with a friend. This is how we grow organically.
I've noticed that the numbers have been growing. The numbers have been spiking, so I am [led] to believe that you guys are spreading the word. I appreciate that. I value that tremendously. The sky is ultimately the limit with the podcast. I'm going to be bringing on my first guest in over a year and a half in the next couple of episodes. I'm not sure which episode it will be. It might be 51, it might be 52. Then from there, I'm going to be doing a guest interview with some higher caliber individuals once a month, every single month, on the second Friday of every month. So that's going to be really exciting to tune into.
But without further ado, let's give a little bit of a backstory about leadership. My first encounter with being a leader was actually when I was in the Boy Scouts of America. Now, I was in Boy Scouts for nearly eight years of my life, and I attribute a lot of my ability to be uncomfortable to Boy Scouts. It was a great experience, going camping every single month and going to summer camps.
… A personal passage is left out for privacy …
I just enjoyed being in nature, and I saw leadership firsthand, not just with the adult leaders and the scoutmasters, but also the leadership that was shown by the older scouts.
You have kind of a structure similar to the military. You have private, you have sergeant, you have different private ranks, and then you have generals and commanders and everything else. Well, in Boy Scouts, you had the normal scouts, and then you had the patrol leaders, the assistant patrol leaders, and then you had the senior patrol leader and the assistant senior patrol leader. When I was younger and getting involved, I saw some scouts who were 16, 17 who were in those positions, and I was 11, 12 at the time, and I viewed them as role models. I viewed them as people who could give directions but also be able to get their hands dirty, so we could unify as a patrol, so we could unify as a troop and get the task at hand done, whether that was tug of war competitions at camp or whether that was getting the campsite set up, where you're putting the rainflies and the chuck boxes and the tents up.
I know some of those phrases might sound like a foreign language to some of you guys, but looking back, those were some of the greatest years, and they had a great impact on me. Then that leadership ability and that leadership that I experienced there transmuted into school, where I was the person who was the first to get the project done, where I would be the one distributing the workload, or I would be the one stepping up to the plate if the other members weren't getting their work done, and ensuring that the project at the end of the day was finished and was completed, so that the goal was completed.
Leadership is not just barking orders and being some hotshot who's making it all about me: hey, I am the leader, you have to listen to me, you have to respect me.
That is the worst form of leadership that can possibly exist. Have you ever had somebody in your life kind of flaunt their status, or flaunt their superiority to you? It's almost like an ego boost to them, and they're gaslighting you to feel less than. That's a horrible, horrible thing. You don't have any respect for that person. Although their logical position and their statistical position might be higher than yours at that present moment, that doesn't mean that they're any greater than you. If anything, you've lost all of your respect for them for trying to break you down. That right there is not a good form of leadership. Maybe you've worked a job and the boss was just saying, I'm the manager, you have to listen to me.
That is not the way to get your point across, but that's what most people think. There's this great image online that I've seen going around the internet for the past couple of years. This is one of those internet entrepreneurial memes that is actually true. It's a cliche, but it is valuable to look at. It's a good graphic. It shows the difference between a boss and a leader. On the top, it has the boss who's sitting on the backs of others, driving everybody forward. Then you have the leader who's in front of everybody, pulling the ropes with the other members of the team. That is how you get things done, by unifying the people who you're working with. That's not even with business or anything like that, but just in life.
I hate to say it, but 99% of people are looking for the one person to follow. Everybody is a leader. You're a leader in your business. You're a leader in your religious institution. You're a leader in your life and your family, in your household, in your organization. You're a leader in your community, and you're a leader in your nation. There are various leadership positions that go from the smallest level possible to the highest level possible of commander in chief, if we're looking at it from a world leader perspective. Every single position counts, every single position matters, and every single position is going to have a chain effect, like a ripple effect, to other places.
When you think about the local representatives in your city, or you think about the mayor, they are able to influence what gets done in your local community. And look at the representatives that are actually the most effective.
They're the ones who are within the community and creating a vision for other people. I know a lot of you guys do have a business. I know a lot of the listenership has some entrepreneurial aspirations. If you're to the point where you're working with other people or maybe you're even working with a client, part of being a leader is demonstrating a vision, creating a vision and getting other people to also believe in said vision. It's not just saying, hey, this is the goal, but it's like, this is what we are going to get done. This is my confidence in our ability to work together to achieve this goal. We are going to get this done together. This is the reason that we're working. This is the ROI of our time investment.
This is the grand scheme. This is the master plan. Then they're going to be like, wow, man, if we get this done, then that means that we're going to get X, Y, and Z results, or this is going to be so much fun, or this is going to be something that I can look back on and be proud of. That is what a leader does. They establish the vision moving forward. It's like going back to Boy Scouts. The scoutmaster would establish the vision of, hey, we need to get the camp set up so we can go and have fun the rest of the trip. Okay.
So we all work together to get the camp set up so we can have the rest of the week to ourselves. Or in my case, building up Mashman Ventures, I'm setting the vision: if you guys fulfill your roles, and we build and offer this white glove service to our clientele, then that means that we're not only going to be making an impact on the clients and making sure that they have the best experience possible, but that also means that the company is going to be generating revenue. That means that your positions are locked in, you're going to be generating revenue, and you're getting paid. So it's a symbiotic relationship.
It's like recycling. You think about, you get a water bottle, you recycle the water bottle, and then Adidas turns it into a plastic shoe.
You know what I'm saying? So it's all working together, and that flow, that sense of unity, is what gets us results. That flow, there's this level of workflow that once you're in it, it's very difficult to get out of, because everybody is fulfilling their position. Everybody is on board with the vision and on board with the goals and on board with the mission. Then the rest comes easy, to where, let's say a problem comes up, the team's not focused so much on the problem. They're focused on the solution to the problem, because they believe that what they are doing is more important than whatever problem they could ever be faced with. Leadership is about showing your, I'm trying to think of the best word to say.
It's more so showing that you are with the team members. It is showing that you are with your organization. You're not sitting on some pedestal. This form of leadership could be referred to as servant leadership. Now, I'm not so much into, hey, you are there to serve other people and serve the people of the team, but this goes back to episode 49 and the halo effect. There has to be this level of authority and this level of respect that you have with the team, but that is not obtained through barking orders. That is through demonstrating your importance to the team, not in a way of flexing, not in a way of, I'm greater than [you] now, but saying, hey, I have this position. I'm working so I can fulfill my duties and my obligations.
Your position is just as important as mine. There's a reason that we all have these different positions that best suit our skills and best suit our expertise and our areas of focus. But at the end of the day, your position is also very important, because without you, a [link in the] chain, a cog in the machine, a cog in the vehicle is not going to be working properly. So you're showing that you respect them, they respect you, there's this mutual level of understanding, and then the progressive actions that you take are going to flow very easily. They're just going to happen. Let's go ahead and talk about the example of work life.
You're at a job, and let's say your boss does not respect you. You feel bad about that, and you don't get the work done at the rate that you should be getting the work done, because you're just pissed off at your boss. Then the project doesn't get done, and then your boss comes to you and they get mad at you.
[Now think] about your boss coming to you with a level of respect and understanding, saying, hey, I'm working on this right here. Go ahead and reach out to me if you have something important. I'm super, super busy, but I am here for you. Then you're going to be like, wow, this guy cares about me. I do understand he's busy, so I won't bother him. Let me get my project done. Then you have a problem that arises. You hit the boss up, you're like, hey, Sarah, I have an issue here, can you help me with this? They're like, yeah, yeah, go ahead. How's the project going?
What's the problem? It's about being grown, it's about being mature, it's about being a freaking adult. It seems like people are more focused on letting their ego get the best of them, to where there's this level of ego that is unhealthy.
Then they are too focused on what that person says, or what they're doing, or how they're not living up to their expectations, and you don't get anything done that way. You have to be mature. Setting the example is ultimately the thing that will get you results and create a vision for the rest of the people who are in your life, not just in business, but in every single aspect. Leadership extends outside of business and politics. Leadership is within the household. Leadership is within the community. If you're in Walmart right now and something happens, let's say, God forbid, a medical emergency happens, you're either going to be the person who jumps in front and makes sure that everything is going properly, that medical responders are on the way, or you're going to be the bystander.
The bystander syndrome, the whole, I'm going to stand on the sidelines and take my phone and record, is what the world needs less of. The world needs more of the people who are going to jump in front and help in whatever way that they possibly can. It bothers me that we have become so accustomed to being complacent and letting other people step up to the plate. It's time that you actually volunteer yourself and step up to the plate. Go ahead and put yourself in front and set the example. Put yourself in front and offer your services. Put yourself in front and offer your hand, offer your advice, offer your wisdom, offer your leadership, and be a leader for yourself. Be a leader that sets the example for other people to follow. This is where morals and ethics come into play.
This is where knowing that you're a good individual, knowing that you're a good man, knowing that you're a good woman comes into play. But the world needs more leaders. I want you to understand that if you're listening to this podcast, that means that you are a leader. I'm not here to stroke your ego or to brown-nose you. But I will say that if you are taking the time to develop yourself as a man or a woman, then that means that you are already a leader. Now it's about expanding that leadership capability and expanding your leadership traits and putting yourself forward and putting yourself in situations where you can put your leadership ability to the test. How are you going to strengthen it unless you test it? So start today. Maybe take the initiative and set up a family trip.
Decide to go to the park. Decide to go take a vacation and set the example for your family. If you're within your organization, call a team meeting today and get their opinions on how everything's going within the organization, within the business structure. If you're a community leader and you're within the community and you're very active, then go ahead and set up a community event. Get people to attend and see what you guys can do to bring up the value of the property, to bring up the value of the community, to serve everybody. Maybe you arrange a day for picking up the trash. The opportunities and the examples are endless. It is just up to you to take the action and open up your eyes to the opportunities that are in front of you.
So understand and remember that everybody is a leader, and that includes you. Thank you so much for tuning in to episode 50 of Chase the Vision with Isaac Mashman. More on the way very soon. Make sure we're connected everywhere at Isaac Mashman and by going to my website, isaacmashman.com. I have some amazing things in the works, and man, I cannot wait to show you guys. Much love.