5 Beliefs Of A Magnetic Leader

We are in a place where the real talent war begins with leaders who can attract and keep great talent. We have organizations that are struggling to let go of some of the old ways of leading and others struggling to get over some of the new ways of messing up a work culture. We must go back to the beginning to fix any of this. What is it a leader needs to believe in order to think, act, and lead in a way that attracts and keeps great people?

There are five core beliefs that make an impact.

1. Magnetic leaders love their people. Love is a belief in the inherent good of another person. It is a belief that your people are your equals, not your lesser. It is a focus on wanting the best for them, even if it might cost you more than you want it to cost. When we love (platonically, of course) our people, we seek ways to better them, invest in them, and build them up.
2. Magnetic leaders believe in the impossible. At one point in our history, we could not communicate across distances, rode horses, could only hear music if a musician played it directly, and could only admire the birds for their flight. But Marconi mastered the ether, making radio transmission possible, Ford made the car affordable, Edison helped us replay the music that got us through our teen years, and the Wright brothers taught us to fly. People need a visionary leader. Quite often, people will follow a leader with a vision even more than they will follow a leader who is nice. If you can get both love and vision, you are well on your way to creating something truly magical.
3. Magnetic leaders believe in a bonded tribe. They believe it is always worthwhile to invest in the common leadership language required to gel their teams together. They do things with the team to ensure they know each other, like each other and work well together. People work for a leader, but they work with a tribe of people. Leaders who simply react to things going wrong end up frustrated with their team, and the team gets frustrated with the experience. Great leaders are intentional about building trust and connection.
4. Magnetic leaders believe their company is organic and evolutionary. Communication is at the heart of any living organism. When a cell loses its signal to regenerate, it becomes cancerous. When communication signals don’t transfer effectively from the brain to the limbs and back again, the body malfunctions, is in pain, and suffers. The same is true of our organizations. When we have not developed a strong and positive communication strategy, the entire organization is limited and cannot achieve its full potential.
5. Magnetic leaders believe in balanced success for the organization as well as their people. If money is the primary driver, and money is the primary conversation piece, then people will lose their drive. Humans were designed to solve a problem that mattered to them. At work, the balance must be about creating fulfillment in pursuing a mission and vision. Magnetic leaders push their people to stay balanced in the other areas of life as well. Being psychologically healthy, physically healthy, personally healthy in your relationships outside of work, and being fulfilled at work are the balance of a successful life. Magnetic leaders strive to build time and boundaries to allow those things to happen.

Once a leader aligns themselves with these five beliefs, amazing things begin to happen within their team. But leaders are always judged more intensely than followers. If a person is to be truly magnetic as a leader, they go first. They work on their beliefs before they expect others to change. They pave the way through right beliefs, right thoughts, right actions, and right results. Be magnetic!