Leadership: All we learned, we learned in kindergarten.

Take a quick look at the image attached, posted at a school I visited with my high school-bound son.  I couldn't help but take a few shots of the Post-its written by students in kindergarten through fourth grade.

As an executive coach, PhD student and professor at Fisher College of Business, I'm often trying to make more sense of leadership. The one thing I note to my students is the counter-intuitive nature of learning to lead.  By that, I mean most of us learn to lead by learning what NOT to do first.  My most memorable leadership lessons came from following terrible leaders. In most other endeavors, say learning to sing or turn a double play, we learn by watching the best do it. We start from a framework of seeing competence or even greatness and move toward it step by step.

Because most of us have learned what "not to do" first, we often have trouble figuring out what to do.  So, let's dial it down a little and take it from the innocent, the wise, the ego-free--our children. They have it right.

Lead with your heart; be kind. And, if you want to sprinkle some scholarship into the dish, consider what resonance means to you. I have learned resonance from my advisor, Richard Boyatzis, PhD, who states that leaders enact three things in their followers: compassion, hope and mindfulness. As I looked at these Post-its, I was encouraged to see leadership lessons happening early and correctly from the start.