You Know You're A Leader When People Start Mimicking the Stupid Stuff You Do...

You know you're a rockstar in your company when your stupid habits become trends that others follow.  Examples of seemingly meaningless stuff in companies I've worked for that become trends when initiated by the right person in a group:

1. Parking in the back of the parking lot when good spots are available upfront.

2. Removing Voice mail as a feature from your company provided phone (any guesses on how that one turned out for the pack in question?).

3. Putting the Jack "deep thoughts" Handy quote underneath your email signature (gotta show the depth people).

4. Pulling your title from your outlook signature as a sign that you're just not that into the status that titles provide, especially now that you have one.

5. Walking in the parking lot at lunch for exercise.

6. Instead of giving a small gift, providing a donation in my name to the charity of your choice. 

It's the epicenter of cool, if you think about it.  The right person starts doing one of these things in a group of a couple of hundred people, and all of a sudden, it's a flipping trend.  Of course, it's a trend that no one in the special group will admit to, and they certainly won't admit that Bob in marketing is the "sneezer" that they're following because they think he's cool.

Damn - Is the workplace high school?  In many ways, yes.  But, you always said that you wish you could go through high school again knowing what you know now.  You can - it's called your company, and you are the <insert one - leader, follower, pretty girl, jock, geek, townie, etc.>.  Start influencing now within your role in the ecosystem.

What are the trends you see people following in your company?  Imagine if you could use that sneezer/follower mindset to do things that were useful in your company.  Of course, to do that, you need to know who the sneezers are in every area and market accordingly.

The Lebron James commercial below got me thinking about sneezers and followers.  Talcum powder ritual?  Why not?  I think I'll do it in the morning before I start cranking though emails....

Comments

[Kingsley Tagbo]

Habits carried over from high school...