A Leader has to act as the leader
Marshall Goldsmith has a great insight for all aspiring leaders:
When you are in a leadership role everyone will be not only listening to your words, they will be watching your face. If you even appear to be bored, disinterested or “checked-out,” you may inadvertently de-motivate everyone in the room. The content of presentation you are observing may not be that important to you, but your reaction to this content may be very important to them. You need to be fully engaged, not for your needs – but for their needs.
Many books have been written about the “glamourous” aspects of being a leader. Little is written about having to sit in long meetings, watch PowerPoint presentations and hear what you already know – while wishing you could either go to sleep or go to the bathroom.
Like great Broadway actors, great leaders stay in role. This discipline is not part of being a phony, it is part of being a professional. If Broadway actors can go out night after night and work their hearts out, executives (who make a lot more money than actors) can certainly do the same thing.
What do you think? Is it important for a leader to always “be on stage” all the time ?
No one cares about a “leader” who is trying to stay in character for the “role”. That’s the most inane advice I have ever seen.