When I was 12 years old, I ended up at a swim meet. Swimming wasn’t a sport I ever aspired to, but I liked it and I figured with my long arms and legs, I might be pretty good at it. As it turns out, I was. My dad entered me in several races: 50 free, 100 free, 50 breast, 50 fly (I didn’t even know how to do fly), 50 back, 100 back and a medley. I ended up winning almost every race. I came home with several ribbons and a deeper love for the water than I had before. I swam in a few more meets and by the time I entered high school, I realized that freestyle and back stroke sprints were my races.
I made friends with other swimmers. One, in particular, named Susan Royer had been swimming and playing water polo with a club team since she was six or seven years old. She was incredible in the water, I was a newbie, having only competed in those few meets. I learned more from watching her and listening to her stories than from any coach or book I could have read. She was my age, she was a peer, and her drive and fortitude were extraordinary to me. She talked me into joining the water polo team and then taught me the basics of the sport and how to do a lightning-fast pop shot.
Water Polo can be a brutal sport, especially with girls…, what they got away with under water was just unbelievable. Susan was the unheralded leader on our team and within my circle of friends. Why? Because she had the experience that gave her credibility and her skill was matched by no other. She carried herself like a champion, because she was one. And she lured us each along with her to fulfill her vision and, as a result, our sophomore year brought us an undefeated team with two sophomores on the starting varsity team (she and I). As fifteen year olds, we stood before the student body when our undefeated status was announced and we beamed. Her student leadership and constant support drove our team to greatness.
The mantle of leadership sometimes lands on the most unsuspecting of recipients. And those around, sometimes, don’t even recognize the rank that has been bestowed; it can very naturally fall upon a peer or colleague from within, before even an official title or position has been granted. Leading from within is the most organic and easily accepted paths to leadership. The parties involved rarely question this very logical choice, most don’t even recognize it has happened. In the case of my water polo team, we grew in greatness because greatness was amongst us and we followed the magnetic force that was in our midst.
The 360° Leader by John C. Maxwell marks the plight of the middle manager with no real decision-making power or the ability to implement necessary change through traditional routes within an organization. But in the telling, we learn that the middle manager, that is a natural leader or who has mastered that art, wields more power than initially thought. Growing in greatness, the strengthening of a team, and the Phoenix Infection: all endowments to a department or organization led with openness and a natural order.
Doesn’t sound like much of a plight to me.
**The Phoenix Infection is a ten-part series written by Rayanne on leaders and why we follow them…
Why We Follow, part 1
The Rising, part 2
The Leader Within, part 3
We Follow for Reasons, part 4
Your One Thing, part 5
Seeking the Right Level, part 6
Into the Fray, Part 7
Thought Leadership, part 8
Rayanne Thorn, @ray_anne is the Marketing Director for the online recruiting software company, Broadbean Technology. She is also a proud mother of four residing in Laguna Beach, California, and a contributor for Blogging4Jobs. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
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