I’ve always been drawn to the philosophy of leadership.  Early on in my career, during my first job after grad school as an analyst at Accenture, I was fascinated by how the managers behaved vs. how the new hires behaved.  What I noticed almost immediately was that leadership was not defined by the job title.

I had peers who were also new hires like me, who I came to recognize as leaders even though they were the same age or even younger than I was.  I also noticed that there were a few managers and senior managers who did not display what I considered leadership characteristics.

I continued to recognize this dichotomy in leadership vs. job title throughout my career, but never took the time to document what I saw as the key insight.

I think we all recognize what it looks like when your boss or boss’ boss is not a leader let alone a good manager.  What I think we overlook is what it looks like when someone who was never designated as the leader, emerges as the leader.

To break this down, I asked myself a simple question: How would I display leadership if I was at the lowest level of an organization?  I came up with four ways to do it.

1.  Volunteering

In every organization, there is always more work than people being paid to do it.  Whether it’s volunteering for a stretch assignment that requires overtime you won’t get paid for or picking someone up from the airport after hours or taking out an overflowing trash can unprompted during a holiday party. Those who consistently raised there hand to volunteer somehow always sooner or later emerged as a leader.

2. Work Ethic

There are people that complain about work before they do it (and try to get out of it whenever they can), and there are people who roll up their sleeves in silence and just work (and often look for more).

What I noticed through the years is that the first type,  with bad work ethic, are asked to do less, and thus gets what they want…less work.  I also noticed that those of the second type, with a strong work ethic, are asked to do more, more than their fair share. They eventually will have to carry the load of the team.

On more than one occasion I saw those with good work ethic treat the increased load like a punishment, start complaining about carrying the team and then slowly turn into person 1 in rebellion.  However, not all overworked hard workers did this.  Those who didn’t complain and just carried the load of the team like a badge of honor somehow always sooner or later emerged as the leaders.

3. Quality

I have grown to believe that quality is defined by two things:

1. Doing the right thing
2. Doing that right thing, right

Often, I see people who treat work as a paycheck and that’s it.  They will do what they’re told and not question it.  They won’t validate that they’re doing the right thing, and they won’t verify if they’re doing that thing right.  The goal is to just be done, as fast as possible.

On the other hand, there is a minority group of people who take the journey to “done” seriously.  These people value quality over quantity.  These people somehow always sooner or later emerge as leaders.

4. Teaching

Teaching when you are not a teacher is a gift.  It’s also one of the fastest ways to become a recognized leader.  Those who routinely host lunch and learns to show their colleagues the latest industry tips and tricks and who routinely take their time with new hires to get them up to speed are invaluable to an organization.  Teaching others the ropes and doing it with patience and grace is a surefire sign of someone capable of being an effective leader. What’s more, when done consistently, this person can’t help but to emerge as a leader in their organization.