Recently, I was reminded of some of the inspiring leaders from humanity’s history such as Martin Luther King Jr, John F Kennedy, Mother Theresa, Gandhi, Nelson Mandela… to name a few.
The way I was reminded was through an exercise at a seminar whereby the participants had to “model” the speaker in every sense. For example, Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream” speech given in 1963 when he calls for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights. Participants had to view the speech, read the speech then model it exactly – delivering it with the same tone and modulation of voice, physical stance, gestures – the works. The purpose was to raise the spirit of the participant, so they could feel what the speaker felt, see what the speaker saw and hear what they said. Difficult to picture without being in the room, but the difference it made in people to inhabit greatness for a time was mind blowing.
It led me to thinking, have we downplayed the need for true role models? Have they become a thing of the past in today’s politically correct culture?
We talk about inspiring leaders, influencers and icons but do we refer often enough to people as true role models? As individuals that we want to model in order to improve ourselves?
Have we made being a role model too onerous a task which is why we look for “inspirationalists” and “influencers” rather than role models? And by definition if someone inspires you and influences you are they not also a role model?
I know in the past I believed that a role model was someone who was “perfect”. Someone you could “look up to” and model in every way. However, with coaching I realised that a role model doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact they could be someone you don’t even like very much. But, if there is an aspect of their personality, skill, character, knowledge or experience that you want to achieve then modelling that aspect provides an accelerated learning pathway.
In fact, in my last post where I referred to examples of high performing female IT professionals, these were aspects of different individuals that were role models of the high performing behaviour that I sought to achieve in my own life both professionally and personally.
But there is also another question to consider. Do we ask ourselves often enough who are we role models for?
Whether you are a parent, son/daughter, friend, employee, entrepreneur or just a member of humanity, we are constantly dealing with people throughout the course of our day and stepping up to the responsibility of being a role model…being the best we can be in that interaction is probably the most important activity we can undertake. Are we considering enough whether our thoughts and actions are role model worthy?
I know by trying to ask myself this question before each interaction I have certainly makes me conscious of the need to operate at a higher level.
If you could be an even better role model for someone right now, who would that be and what would you do for them?
Comment below with your response…
Also take the High Performance Quiz to find out more and if you have any additional thoughts or input about this post be sure to like it and please leave your comments below. I’d love to connect with you about your own journey.
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