Leadership Doesn't End at the Office Door

By: Jennifer Franko, Coach, Renogize Professional Coaching

I recently attended a conference for coaches where a sponsor walked on stage to introduce the keynote. Before he did, he paused and said, “I know I’m not supposed to do this, but since you’re all coaches, I have a story.”  

He shared what it was like as a young boy when his father came home from work each night. He didn’t go into great detail—he simply said, “My father’s boss was horrible.” And then he told us what he heard and saw: a father worn down, defeated, depressed, convinced he could never do anything right for his boss.  

Then he said something that will stay with me for a long time: “I wonder what my childhood might have been like… what my relationship with my father might have been like… if his boss had a professional coach. Or if my father had one. Maybe I might have been raised differently if someone had helped him or his boss.”  

We talk often about how leadership impacts the people we work with—our teams, peers, and cross-functional partners. We know practicing emotional intelligence helps us understand others, build trust, and work to create better outcomes.  

But how often do we consider the ripple effect beyond the workplace? How our tone, expectations, and tendencies impact others and can shape the way someone walks through their own front door? 

Here’s the deeper truth: Many of us don’t realize the leader we have become is not the leader we were created to be. And none of us become the leader we were created to be by accident. Growth requires intention, reflection, and trusted individuals to walk alongside us as we navigate blind spots, habits, and hard moments.  

You can’t control how others respond to your leadership—but you can take responsibility for how you grow, how you communicate, how you work to understand others, and how you shape the experience of those you influence.  

What kind of leader do you want to be? And what ripple effect do you want whispered in the lives of those you influence at work and far beyond it?  

Once you decide… you begin becoming that leader.