The goal of leadership is Believership. Make Believers versus Fake Believers.
Companies that genuinely emote their values attract mission-centric internal Believers who live those values. These Believers aren’t just wanted—they are needed. The sole goal of your Believership is to make Believers in all directions—with your staff, your customers, and your board. One critical step of rallying Believers is moving on from Fake Believers.
Courage Brands put a “rally cry in their why.” They know a call for action always tops a call to action. Finding their rally cry helps them create their company’s cause where Believers want to stick around and help create momentum that leads to a movement.
Rally Believers
You’ve done the hard work not only to lock in your values, but also lead through them. Living the values at your company makes it easier to swiftly audit who is on your raft and, frankly, who isn’t. Leaders either make believers or fake believers. Fake Believers don’t wear a t-shirt around the office that says ‘Fake Believer.’ They just nod, smile and collect a paycheck. The path to creating a courageous culture runs through a leaders ability to create alignment and genuine conviction for the work you’re producing.
This might be a good time to admit I have a gripe with the word leadership. Don’t get me wrong—we clearly need courageous leadership now. The problem is poor leaders turn leadership into cheerleadership. They start rah-rah’ing to their staff which might work with a portion of your staff, but this behavior is a “no go” with your high producers. Making Believers all starts at the top with what I call your Believership. I prefer “Believership” because it’s not simply the job of one leader. The sole purpose of your Believership is to create Believers in all directions; out of your board, employees, prospects, and customers.
There are multiple ways to make a Believer (vs a Fake Believer) which I cover in detail in Return On Courage. One final note on Fake Believers; frustrated Fake Believers are not bad people. They are just in the wrong place. Fake Believers should go work for people they can believe in. Of course, it’s hard to let go of someone who doesn’t fit anymore. When this is the case, ask yourself what is in the absolute best interest of the business.
