At the end of each chapter in my book Prescribing Leadership in Healthcare, I tell a personal “Tales from the Leadership Front” story to summarize the chapter content with insights from the leaders I’ve met.
In my travels I get to meet some great leaders and am thrilled when we discuss their leadership journey. I especially enjoy hearing their leadership origin story or what in their life made them into the leader they are today. A leader must be aware of their origin story to understand who they are as a leader and why they are leading. As Simon Sinek says, ‘knowing the why’ is critical to their success.
One such conversation started at the airport. While I was waiting on my flight to Chicago, a man noticed the Northwestern Univ shirt I was wearing and told me about how some students from Kellogg helped him when he started his business. I wasn’t surprised by this since I participated in a similar program when I attended Kellogg. Turns out he was the founder of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce. I included his story in a blog last year.
Learn how to effectively tell your story in our “Storytelling for Leaders” master class.