The importance of horizontal leadership

“I have no problem being the ultimate arbiter of discipline, but if I am the primary arbiter of discipline, then our team will never be worth a darn!”  I used to say these exact words to my basketball team on a regular basis.  Okay, yes, I probably did use a stronger word than darn, in fact probably a couple of stronger words.  I was attempting to get my team to buy-in to the concept of horizontal leadership, or shared leadership.  Each of them knew what the expectations were for members of our basketball team, yet I struggled to get them to hold one another accountable.  It is no coincidence that once they accepted the responsibility of horizontal leadership we began to accumulate more wins.

As mentioned earlier, horizontal leadership is just another way of saying shared leadership.  It really compliments Mark Sanborn’s book You Don't Need a Title to Be a Leader.  The idea being that leadership is for all of us, not just those with the title denoting leadership.  I would suggest that most, if not all, successful teams, groups, and organizations have very strong horizontal leadership.  When all members of a group accept the responsibility associated with horizontal leadership, greatness becomes a distinct possibility.

Imagine the athletic team that does not require their coach, coaches, or team captains hovering over them to do what they are supposed to do, to the best of their ability, when they are supposed to do it—this is a team that maximizes their time spent practicing!  How about the office that continues to hum along when their supervisor is out of the building—productivity does not drop simply because “the boss” is not there to tell people to get back to work.  This happens because of horizontal leadership.  Each member of the team, group, or organization first assumes responsibility for leading themselves and then accepts the responsibility of holding their teammates accountable for their actions.  When I was coaching I would share a quote from Alexander the Great with my student-athletes: “I am not afraid of lions led by a sheep; I am afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion.”  The point is that the lion will convince the sheep that they are, in fact, lions, whereas an army of lions led by sheep will become convinced they are, in fact, sheep.  I used to challenge my student-athletes to a step further: I challenged them to become an army of lions led by lions, but reminded them that this would only be possible if they embraced horizontal leadership.  Lions led by lions would be an unstoppable force, whereas the sheep led by a lion were in trouble if something happened to the lion leading them. 

 Horizontal leadership allows teams to weather storms and assists in eliminating the possibility of a single point of failure—two desired outcomes for any team.  Everything certainly rises and falls based upon leadership, thus we must do our best to ensure that our teams have multiple leaders and are not dependent upon the presence, loyalty, or well-being of one single leader.

Dylan Luna and the American Dream

Earlier this month I had the privilege of attending the SABIS Directors' Meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.  In addition to the incredible location, I was also able to listen to many excellent speakers discuss exciting new developments unique to SABIS.  Moreover, I was able to listen to Svava Bjarnason, Principal Education Specialist at the International Finance Corporation discuss the work her organization is doing in the field of education.

Four days prior to hearing Ms. Bjarnason speak about all the good the International Finance Corporation is doing throughout the world in the field of education, I was on the roof of our hotel enjoying an Efes and looking out over Istanbul.  I turned to one of my colleagues and posed a question: How many talented children in this city of over 13 million will never get a chance in life because they are denied access to a quality education?

Daily children in our country take the education they are provided for granted.  Sure, there are many who seize this opportunity and use it to get where they want to go, but how many throw this golden opportunity away?  How many squander the opportunity to better themselves and to improve their socio-economic status in a matter of a few short years?  People in our country take the opportunities provided to us for granted.  Looking down at Istanbul I wondered "How many children similar to Dylan Luna are in this city?"  How many children are walking around with a dream, yet see no possible way of reaching this dream?  Dylan was a student of mine at the International Academy of Flint and one of my all-time favorites.  I am not sure I ever met a young person with a greater sense of purpose than Dylan.  Moreover, Dylan possessed a drive and determination I rarely saw in others.  He seized every opportunity possible in order to get where he wanted to go.  Rather than looking at his circumstances as obstacles and using them as an excuse for failure or lack of success, Dylan used his circumstances as building blocks and motivation to drive him forward.  However, Dylan was able to do so because he had a great family and support network behind him, he had access to a quality education, and he recognized the importance of this opportunity.  Providing ALL children with access to such an education may prove to be the most important issue of our generation.

Our challenge as educators is two-fold.  Not only must we work daily to ensure that the children under our care are provided the best possible education, but we must also strive to build quality relationships with the children under our care so we can influence them to take advantage of the opportunities afforded them in our great nation.  Many of our children need help seeing what is directly in front of them--both good and bad.  For this generation of young people, nothing exists until it actually occurs.  We must assume the responsibility of assisting them in looking and planning ahead, helping them navigate the challenges life brings their way, and recognizing the opportunities they have as citizens in our country.