In-the-Trenches Leaders

I recently came home from a particularly long and stressful day at work. All it took was a well intended “how was your day?” inquiry from my husband to trigger an emotional explosion that I would instantly regret. I didn’t even realize it was coming. A decision I was facing was wearing on me much more than I realized, and as I let go of all I was holding in I startled myself and probably my husband (although he played it very cool). I let go of some of the leadership fears I was stuffing inside, and given the force with which they came out, I’d apparently been stuffing for a while!

That little explosion was a reminder to me that leaders aren’t always the popular ones. That’s really what I was mad about. I needed to make a decision that wasn’t necessarily popular, but I knew in my heart it was right and it was the best thing for our organization at the time.

As I observe what gets celebrated in leadership circles today, I fear that leadership tends to be portrayed as more glamorous than it really is…

This is the beginning of a guest post at Ed Stetzer‘s blog.  Hop on over to read more and join the discussion!