Leadership when everyone can smell your dirty laundry

Let’s assume that authentic leadership requires you to bring your whole self to your role.

Well, I would argue having lived in your place of work for fifteen years, sharing all of life’s ups and downs in real time with your colleagues as well as being comfortable to have your holey workout clothes drying on the washing line for everyone to see, all qualify. 

For most of us, the global pandemic required us to set up shop back in our homes. The line between work and home got blurred. But since leaving high school I have never had that line, it has all been one.

You see, I live at work and work where I live - a collection of Scottish stone cottages, big gardens and a collection of purpose-built beautiful buildings bordering Edinburgh’s local nature reserve. I share my home with co-workers, clients, my family and occasionally I show politicians past my bedroom window.

There are no boundaries here. When my children shout in the garden, the office staff know what's up. I can't pretend to be off sick, since everybody would either see me lounging around in the garden or see Netflix flickering in the living room. 

Whereas most CEOs would need to find ways to share some personal elements with their colleagues, I need to be able to establish credibility and leadership capital from a place of total transparency. My clothes get washed in our laundry which my colleagues pass on their way to work, hence the metaphor of everyone being able to smell my dirty laundry.

To illustrate how I have arrived at a point where I feel comfortable with leading from a place of transparency, I picture three camera lenses converging on top of each other. This image stems from the understanding that the way I live my life - the way I lead, is influenced by my experiences, what is in my life and what I seek out to become the best version of myself.

Outer lens

Born and raised in Germany as a single child, I had a normal childhood with parents who loved me and cared deeply for me. I went to a good school, had a great circle of friends and always had a keen interest in sports and exercise. But I grew up with a false sense of entitlement, a belief that the world owed me something. Fortunately, I had the pull to step out of my comfort zone and expose my ego-centric world-view to a way of life that shook me to the core. A challenge that made me realise that it was not all about me, a challenge that made me who I am today.

Second lens

I was incredibly lucky to meet my wife on my first day of arriving in Scotland and having started our family at a young age helped broaden my perspective on life and sense of responsibility quickly. I was also offered the chance to pursue my university career whilst progressing in my professional career as a manager and I am now the CEO of the company that I started out volunteering for in 2006. I am surrounded by people who care deeply for one another and accept each other for who they are, no matter how smelly their laundry might be.

Inner lens

The inner lens is the most important one for me. It is the one that I have the most influence on and it is here where I sharpen my focus. I have always had a pull to find challenges that scared me but that I knew I could succeed in if I worked hard enough. I pursued University degrees that I thought were above my level of intelligence, I took on responsibilities at work, like being a line manager to professionals in their fields, that initially scared me, I chose to have more children than most people would seem sensible and I regularly seek out crucible events, such as Sealfit’s Kokoro camp and the Spartan Ultra race, to test my physical and mental fortitude. I keep trying to build a network of like-minded people, who are also on the path of pursuing a life of excellence.

The focal point

My unique perspective, the point in the middle through which I experience the world, is shaped by the three lenses outlined above. Fundamentally, my professional and personal interests intersect as I want to become the best version of myself. Although my colleagues can sometimes get a whiff of my sweaty workout T-Shirts, I feel incredibly blessed to pursue a career in leadership from the starting point of having it all out there, no smoke screen. What you get at work is the real me. 

I managed to transform myself from a spoiled single child to a family man that always has an ear for the people in his life and is willing to help wherever and however possible. Leadership for me is the practice of leading and being led when everyone around me has full insights into all my human qualities, good, bad and sometimes sweaty and smelly.