What’s the best part of being in a leadership role?

Our reader poll today asks: What’s the best part of being in a leadership role?

• Helping my team members develop, grow and succeed: 52%
• Having control over the way things run: 4%
• Being able to set direction, take risks and make things happen: 34%
• Being visible and valued in the organization: 6%
• Overcoming the challenges leaders face every day: 3%
• Something else: 2%

Making stuff happen and developing others. The two clear winners in this poll are how much you enjoy making things happen and developing your team members. Both are great rewards for any leader. The interesting thing is they’re both outward-facing in that the impact is about the environment around you versus the impact of the role on you. While I recognize these polls are simple and these are complex topics, there are clear patterns. If you happen to be inward-facing in your leadership, I encourage you to take a moment to look at the broader impact you’re having. The things you’re getting done and your impact on helping people grow may be much larger than you expect. You will likely also find the rewards of that impact far exceed the inward-facing rewards of how your role makes you feel.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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These results were originally a SmartPulse poll in SmartBrief on Leadership which tracks feedback from more than 240,000 business leaders. Get smarter on leadership and sign up for the SmartBrief on Leadership e-newsletter.