I was in high school band but I didn’t enjoy being in the class because I was an athlete and thought band was not cool. My attitude was bad and my actions reflected that.
My friend and I decided to make up a game to alleviate some of our boredom.
We came up with a point system, where we accumulated points based on screwing up. For instance, if we messed up and got the teacher to stop and start the song over, then we got so-many points. If we got a dirty look, we got so-many points. If we were publicly reprimanded, then we got so-many points. If we got an eraser thrown at us, we got so many points. You get the picture.
Well, one-day I was doing a great job – meaning, I was doing a bad job and screwing up a lot. Finally, the band teacher had enough. He stopped the song and then proceeded to calmly tell me “Jamy, there are two types of people in this world. Those who lead us forward and those who lead us backwards, and you lead us backwards. NOW GET OUT!”
Boy was I excited. All the previous points I had accumulated that day didn’t matter. I had just gotten kicked out of class. I won the day automatically!
Even though I was young and thought I was cool, that story has stuck with me all these years. My band teacher was right. We are all leaders but it is just a matter of whether or not we are leading people forward or backwards.
We make choices every day as to whether we will use our influence positively or negatively. And make no mistake, we all have influence. I had an influence on another trumpet player, which also increased my influence over the entire band.
Make no mistake, YOU (yes, you) have influence over someone. You get to choose whether that influence is going to be positive or negative. There is no in-between. We either make the situation (and the people around us) better or worse.
Leadership is influence, nothing more, nothing less. But influence can come in a positive form or negative form.
What will you choose? How will you influence people today? Will you lead people forward or backwards. As my band teacher told me all those years ago, there are only two types of leaders.