Oh Brother!

Leadership, like most skills, starts in the home. Today I want to focus on the not so obvious home example of leadership: your siblings.

If you are a little brother or sister you probably looked up to your older siblings. What ever they did you wanted to try. You wanted to talk like them, dress like them and hang out with their friends. As a big brother or sister you were the trendsetter in the household. You were constantly pushing the bounds of what your parents would allow you to do and showing your younger siblings the ropes.

You parents expect you to and I want to challenge you as an older sibling to be role model to your younger siblings. The amount of trust, respect and admiration they have for you is amazing. Whether you are 50 or 15 your younger siblings are watching what you do. They reach out to you for help and learn from your mistakes. One of the best way to do this is to have a very open communication with them. Share your faults with them and let them know that you have been in their shoes in the past. Support them when they try new things and let them know that despite what you have done they can create their own destinies.

Growing up one of my favorite things to do was to play school with my little sisters. I tried to teach them basic math and spelling because it was something I struggled with in elementary school. Now my sisters want to pediatricians and nanotechnologist. I can't help but think that my lessons had something to do with that. :-).

Everyday you get many chances to impact another persons life. Take today to reach out to your siblings and talk to them about how being a leader can impact their future.