Are You the Real McCoy?

Are You the Real McCoy? – by Arnie Wohlgemut

The real McCoy was the inventor, Elijah McCoy, born in Canada in 1844. He had many different inventions of which included an ironing board, a lawn sprinkler and his 1st invention, a lubricator system for gears, and other moving parts on steam engines. Other companies copied his devices, but they never worked as well as Elijah’s so, people would say, “I want the real McCoy”, and “make sure it is a real McCoy.”

As a leader, are you the real McCoy?

As we turn the corner out of the deep challenges the pandemic has created and provided us, life will change. I truly do not believe that what we will return to the “normal” that we had before.

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” – Heraclitus

Life is a series of experiences, twists, and turns, providing lessons after lessons to learn. All of these may have a lasting impact on what we are willing or not willing to give up.

For some this pandemic has been life changing, and for others it has been devastating. The opportunity here is that you will have to work with and lead people to a new normal.

“Tough times reveal character.” – Carly Fiorino

Last August, in the middle of the pandemic I attended the GLS20 virtual online conference. One of the speakers, Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, noted that “we shouldn’t have needed a pandemic to remind ourselves that people, societies, organizations, and cultures are generally better off when their leaders are smart, kind, and honest.”

How true is that! I agree with him when he identified that honesty, or as we love to call it – integrity – is the most important.

Some leaders are good in many situations, some are just bad in every situation. The leadership character you reveal is the one you have chosen to cultivate.

“Research shows that feeling like you matter at work isn’t a generational preference or “nice to have”. It’s a fundamental human need.” – Simon Sinek

Now is the time to use all that leadership knowledge you have gained and start leading!

Listen to your people, work at meeting their needs, not their wants. This is the only way to be “the real McCoy”.

As the quote from Simon Sinek says, “what all of us need is to be valued and know we matter. Be consistent, clear, and honest, it is the only way to be an inspiring leader.