Blue Collar Leadership

Those of you who know me or follow me on social media know that I am a student of leadership, a life long learner, in fact. One of my thoughts that I like to share is “Leaders are found at every level of every organization, worldwide.” The leaders I refer to are those who find themselves in the ‘middle’ of the organization. This is the basis for my book, Leadership: A View From the Middle, that we can lead from wherever we are. We do not have to be at the top, rather, anywhere within the organization. This brings me to what I listened to today.

About a year and a half ago, I connected with Jon Rennie, the President & CEO of Peak Demand, Inc. He is also a lifelong learner, successful author, and expert in the subject of leadership. This is what brought us together, and he has helped me in my leadership journey as well as with my book (his comments are on the back cover). He has kind of become my mentor in the subject, and I have learned to never miss his ‘Deep Leadership’ podcast each weekend. In fact, I have been honored to be his guest (ep. #10). Today I listened to episode #32, Blue Collar Leadership with Mack Story. I was in for quite a surprise.

I’ve found someone else with my viewpoint! Mack Story is the author of thirteen books on leadership and the founder of Top Story Leadership, which provides professional training and coaching for organizations all over the country. The conversation he had with Jon on the Deep Leadership podcast prompted me to start it over and listen to it again! Truth be told, I was doing yard work while listening to the podcast and I enjoyed it so much I started it over again, while I continued cutting up mesquite branches on a hot Arizona morning. I thoroughly enjoyed listening, and the reason why I restarted the recording was because I wanted to stop it at certain points to take notes.

Yes, I was cutting up mesquite tree branches, listening to these two experts in the field of leadership. At certain points I would stop what I was doing and jot down what Mack had just said. Here is why: statements that Mack Story made were almost word for word what I have said in my leadership journey. I immediately noticed that he and I have a very similar viewpoint of leadership, and it is extremely gratifying to learn this. Check this out:

Mack said, “Books on leadership are usually written by pastors, PHD educators and those from the military. I’m not anything special, I’m actually the opposite…”

Here are a couple quotes from my book:

“I’ve found that many books written on the subject of leadership are written from the perspective of the top. The author might be a CEO or an academic expert on the subject.” And later on, “I’m nobody special, but I do feel that I have gained some valuable learning experiences in the leadership arena over the years…”

He made these comments near the beginning of the podcast and I was hooked. I’ve found someone with my same thoughts on leadership! He went on to say the he would prefer to give his leadership message to those on the front line, the workers that make an organization run. He identified how sometimes, it seemed that those at the top, senior managers and vice presidents, preferred to look at the bottom line instead of developing the people in their organization. In fact, he stated “Most companies don’t do any leadership development. Most of them do none.”

I wrote an entire chapter based on that very statement.

He said a few more things that were right up my alley, and I felt that I’d found somewhat of a connection with him in the art of leadership. I’ve been searching for others with similar viewpoints to mine, and have found a scant few. So, I’m happy to have listened to this podcast and learned from Mack. I’ll be purchasing a book from him soon, as should you. I also look forward to discovering more of his thoughts on leadership through his social media pages.

As we both have said, most leadership books are written from the perspective of the top. I believe both Mack and I provide our perspectives from the middle. The middle is where the vast majority of workers are found, and it is in here, where leaders are made.