YOUR LEADERSHIP ROLE IS NOT YOUR IDENTITY

This week I read an interesting article quoting Jeff Immelt.

If that name sounds familiar to you, that’s because it should. For many years, Jeff was CEO of CBS. He made huge decisions and presided over a massive corporation. He managed hundreds of employees and oversaw many strategic plans.

In this article, Jeff wrote about what

it feels like to go from being a VIP to being a PIP.

When I saw the acronym VIP, of course I realized it referred to very important persons. Certainly, Jeff was one of those for many years.

However, when I saw the acronym PIP, I immediately thought of probably the same thing you were thinking of: performance improvement plan.

Those of us who have had the good fortune to be leaders are very familiar with that concept. When we have teammates who are not working up to the standards, we expect or who are not improving as we hoped, we create these performance improvement plans to help them grow and succeed.

Sometimes these plans are effective, and the team member rises to the occasion. In other instances, teammates are unable to satisfy the plan, and we unfortunately have to tell them it’s time to move on to another organization and position.

However, the PIP that Jeff was referring to is “previously important person.” I had never seen that acronym used in that way before. Nevertheless, it really resonated with me.

As the leader of the Continuing Legal Education department at Georgetown Law Center for 32 years, I was lucky to work with some of the best lawyers in the United States. What I observed was that so many of them had their identities wrapped up in their jobs.

And why not? They had stature, they had wealth, they were recognized for their experience and their knowledge, they managed multiple employees, they were considered experts, they were called upon to speak at conferences, and they managed millions of dollars in many transactions.

Over my three decades at Georgetown, I saw many of these successful and powerful lawyers retire. And when they did, a large number of them felt lost. They had invested almost all their identity in their professional roles and positions.

This same experience befell my stepfather decades ago. He helped run a successful law firm that had his name on it in a small town in Pennsylvania. He oversaw the hospital Board of Directors and participated in several volunteer organizations as a leader. When he retired and he and my mother moved to Florida, he felt lost.

He felt so lost that he decided to take on a job as paralegal at a local law firm, thinking that would help restore his sense of self and self-esteem. Unfortunately, it did not work. He resigned from that position and felt depressed for most of the rest of his life.

I encourage you not to fall into the same trap. I’m talking about the trap of investing too much of your identity and your self-esteem in your professional role.

How can you make sure that your identity is not wrapped up solely in your paying job? You can do many things:

-You can get involved in volunteer organizations within your community and use your leadership experience there to help make your community a better place

-You can engage in meaningful and enjoyable hobbies that you could continue after you retire

-You can meditate on or journal about what brings you real happiness and how you can expand those activities now and in the future

-You can plan for the next stage of your life by reading meaningful books, by writing about your plans and by conversing with your friends about the future

-You can even ask people who you trust what your biggest strengths are and think about how you can utilize those strengths in a more meaningful way going forward

-You can inquire of your own family members about how they see you utilizing your skills in other ways now and in the future

Please do not make the same mistake my stepfather made so many years ago.

Diversify your self-esteem.

Don’t allow almost all of it to be wrapped up in your job title, job responsibilities, and job stature.

You owe that to yourself!

If you believe this content would resonate with a friend or colleague, please feel free to forward it along!

-Larry