Do you Lead out of Abundance or Scarcity?

Some people gather with urgency as if there will never be enough.
Other people live care free as if there is a never ending supply.
Each of us fall somewhere on the continuum between Scarcity and Abundance.

When it comes to money some of us have a poverty mindset and store every bit we can, while others spend as if their credit card never has to be paid off.  Some of us feel like we never have enough time to do the things we need to in life, while others are time-optimists and believe there is enough time for everything.

When it comes to people you lead - do you lead with an attitude of abundance or scarcity?

Far too often the weight of leadership responsibility drives us to live with an attitude and mindset of scarcity.

In the realm of leadership a scarcity mindset causes us to live under a pressure that says we must keep everyone on our team…forever.  We look at our team as the end of the line for people and do whatever we can to keep them.  This closed handed mindset invites stress and anxiety into our lives and leads us to pressure focused decision-making.

I’m not suggesting we adopt a “whatever” mindset.  People should know you want them and need them on the team – they should not feel like you or the team will fall apart without them.

The scarcity mindset sits in contrast with the abundance mindset – which causes you to view the people on your team in light of a world of potential team members around you and a world of potential in front of each team member.  An abundance mindset causes us to look at our team not as a cul-de-sac but rather a bypass.  It invites us to look at our leadership as a tool for developing people for more in life.

I want to encourage you to lead with an open hand.  Embrace a mindset of abundance that says there are more than enough potential team members in the world around you.  When you lean into an attitude of abundance you are able to send team members out to do great things knowing that there are eager and capable people of stepping up in their place.  At the same time, that low pressure attitude that comes with an abundance mindset actually draws people in and causes many to want to stay connected to you and your leadership.