This one isn’t just for the executives in accounting. It’s for anyone who is in, or aspires to be in, a position of leadership.

I have a question for you: Who are you allowing to lead you?

Tears Over Morning Coffee

One Saturday morning, I was in my office with my cup of coffee, and tears were streaming down my face.

Why? I had just watched Pat Sajak’s farewell from Wheel of Fortune. I’d missed it live the night before, so I watched it the next morning, and I was emotional.

What would cause that kind of emotion over a game show host?

A Game Show Host Who Became Something More

For years, Pat was just a game show host to me. He ran Wheel of Fortune. My wife and I would compete over the puzzles while we made dinner, and sometimes we’d just laugh at the contestants’ guesses.

But during COVID, I noticed something else. Pat was having an influence on me. Pat was leading me.

Sounds strange, right? Here’s what I mean.

Pat Was a HERO

Pat has psychological capital. He’s a hero, not in the Batman and Superman sense, but in the sense of the acronym HERO: hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism.

Hope. Night after night, show after show, he encouraged hope in every contestant. He gave them this energy: you can win, you can do this, you’ve got this.

Efficacy. He ran a tight ship. The show started and finished on time. The puzzles kept flowing, the conversations weren’t too long, and people stood where they were supposed to stand and said what they were supposed to say, for the most part.

Resilience. During COVID, the show went on hiatus. Then it came back with social distancing, masks, and that little white thing to spin the wheel. And Pat had been doing it for more than 40 years. That’s resilience.

Optimism. It didn’t matter how bad your guess was. It could be the worst guess he’d ever heard, and he was still telling you, “You’ve got this.”

That’s where the tears came from. I’m going to miss that.

Take Inventory of Who Is Leading You

Pat’s farewell also made me reflect: who else am I allowing to influence my leadership? Who else is setting an example, or a tone, for how I lead?

So here’s my challenge to you. Take an inventory. Look around and see who is influencing your leadership. Who are you becoming without even knowing it?

It took me a while to realize Pat was having an influence on me. Then I started to see it show up in my own life. I can be a hero at times. Not every time, but I thank Pat for that.

Choose Your Influences Intentionally

I hope you’re intentional about who you allow to lead you, because there are a lot of influences out there right now. With some of them, I question whether they’re speaking truth or untruth. You might catch them on the news, on social media, or in what you’re watching on YouTube. Either way, they are having an influence on you.

So choose some leadership you want to allow into your life, and let it influence you to become the leader you want to become.

Other than that, I’m just going to miss Pat.

Choose the Leader You Become

If you’re a CPA firm partner, owner or leader, executive coaching can help you examine what’s shaping your leadership and decide who you want to become.

Explore coaching with The CPA Coach →

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