How'm I doin'?

Remember Ed Koch asking that question when he was Mayor of New York City?

It is a question whose answer we want to know. Unfortunately, too often we want a positive answer, whether it is correct or not.

Leaders need the answer to that question as well as anyone else. How are they meeting the needs of others? Leaders know that followers do not exist to meet the needs of leaders. Leaders are to serve others. Thus, they need to know if they are doing so.

Leaders, like everyone else, are often afraid to ask the question because of what the answers might be. However, even if the response is not as positive as a leader might like, it is necessary if the leader is to be successful.

A leader cannot see how (s)he is doing. The leader needs the perspective of others. Others provide the mirror that we otherwise are lacking. It is through others that we see our performance.

Would you rather be doing something wrong and not know about it or be doing something wrong and know it? If one knows (s)he is doing something wrong it is the first step to doing something right. An error can only be corrected once it is recognized.

Anyone striving to do the right thing will develop a following, will become a leader. Thus, seeking to find out how someone is doing is a basic step of leadership.