Leadership Behaviour Is Contagious
Leadership Is Contagious
Leadership isn’t about telling people what to do; it’s about modelling the behaviour you want to see. This episode explores how self-awareness and everyday habits shape team culture and trust in leadership.
Leadership Is Contagious
Boardroom Briefs with Frans Versteeg
We often think leadership is about vision, strategy, and decision-making. But more often, it’s about something much simpler and much harder: being watched. Your team is not just listening to what you say. They are observing what you do. Every day. In every small interaction. And whether you realise it or not, your behaviour is contagious.
The meeting doesn’t start when you say it does.
Imagine you announce that all meetings must start on time. Yet you regularly show up five minutes late, greet the room with jokes, and casually open your laptop.
What message does that send? The meeting starts when you arrive. Not at the agreed time. Not with the agenda. But with your entrance. Soon enough, your team adapts. Some come late. Some don’t prepare. And the culture follows your cue, not your calendar. Now imagine the opposite.
You casually say, “Let’s start around 10,” but are already reviewing notes at 09:59. You’re calm, but clear. Relaxed in tone, precise in action. The team quickly learns: while the leader may sound flexible, the expectation is firm. Culture is not shaped by rules. It’s shaped by signals.
What you repeat becomes the standard.
Once, I started using a small notebook for my personal tasks and follow-ups. Within weeks, I noticed the same notebooks appearing on the desks of my team members. People adopted the habit not because I asked them to, but because I quietly modelled it. The lesson is clear: your habits replicate. And that’s true whether those habits are helpful… or not.
Small gestures reveal big truths.
There’s a scene in Invictus, the film about Nelson Mandela’s effort to unite South Africa through rugby. In a quiet moment, Mandela receives a visitor, the national team captain, Francois Pienaar. A staff member brings in tea. Mandela himself takes the tray, thanks her directly, and pours the tea for his guest. The moment is brief. The leadership lesson is lasting. Respect is not a slogan. It is often practised, shown, and felt, even when no one expects it.
You are always visible.
Leadership is like being a fish in a bowl. Whether you realise it or not, people are watching from every angle. They’re learning how to behave, how to speak, how to decide, how to treat others. That means every raised eyebrow, every ignored email, every late arrival, and every dismissive comment matters. But so does every sincere thank you. Every prepared agenda. Every time you actually listen instead of just waiting to speak.
Lead as if everyone is learning from you because they are
When we recognise our visibility, we gain power. Not the power to control but the power to shape culture through consistent, conscious example. And that begins not with communication skills or leadership frameworks, but with self-awareness.
The real work of leadership doesn’t start with others. It starts with you. Because every behaviour teaches. And every moment is contagious.
Highlights:
00:00 Introduction: Actions Speak Louder Than Words
00:05 The Impact of Punctuality
01:25 Contagious Behavior: Leading by Example
02:16 A Lesson from Invictus
04:15 The Importance of Self-Awareness in Leadership
04:56 Conclusion: Visibility and Exemplary Leadership
Links:
Website: https://www.fransversteeg.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fransaversteeg/
Transcript:
People don't do what you say, people do what you do. Let me give, well, a very simple, uh, uh, example. Suppose I tell a. The people around me meetings have to start on time, but I myself, I come in five minutes late and then I chat. Uh, we tell three or four nice jokes, or we tell something about, uh, what happened over the weekend or whatever. And people learn that basically the meetings that I chair start 10 minutes late. So the people that will attend the meeting, they will arrive anywhere between say 10 and 10 past 10. On the other hand, if I pretend to be super relaxed and say, you know, let's start somewhere around 10, but if you enter the meeting at one minute past 10, I'm already on page three of the notes of the last meeting.
People say, Hmm, France is not that relaxed as he pretend to be. Uh, and people are basically, they will basically then understand, Hmm, you forget what he says about, uh, the meeting starts around 10. When he says 10, he means 10. Um, there are other examples of, of say, contagious behavior. If I buy a small notebook. And all the decisions or follow up things or, or to do things. I write in that small notebook. I can almost guarantee you that my direct managers within two or three months all have these sort of notebooks and everybody is walking with these notebooks and writing down the, uh, uh, the, the, the important to-do list and whatever have you.
So, uh, being aware. Of your own behavior and that everything you do or don't do is being perceived by people is being seen let me give a beautiful example. Of everyday behavior from the, the film Invictus. I dunno whether you've seen that. It's a film about Nelson Mandela and the fact that he wants to, uh, make sure that the South African, uh, rugby team will win the World Cup because he believes that that will create a lot of hu uh, unity in the country. But apart from that, uh, you, we get a scene, uh, in which he has invited the captain of the rugby team f Pinar, and the moment Pinar enters the room, the office of Mandela, there is a lady that comes and bring the tea. And, but what does Mandela do? He takes over the tray and very consciously and very nicely, thanks the lady and say, oh, thank you so much. And he puts the, the tray on the table and he pours the tea himself. Now, immediately after that, uh, he's into a very strategic, inspiring conversation with Francois Pina, which is all about. Expecting to, basically, how can we exceed our own expectations, but that small detail of being very approachable, being very normal down to earth, not being, not being like, well, you know, I'm, I'm going to wait here for the T to be put.
Um, this is. All essential behavior that people will copy, that people will understand, that people will, that is actually creating the environment and the culture in an organization in an, in a government or whatever. Um, so once again, I think we cannot underestimate how important our own behavior is. That means that one of the, the true starting points of leadership be that at whatever level will always start with a lot of self-awareness. Knowing what you're actually doing, being aware of what you're actually saying, being aware of whether you're really listening or only half. Uh, so, uh, I've often said. Uh, leadership is like, well, you like a fish in a bowl, and everybody from all angles can see the fish swim. And so you are, whether you like it or not, you are 100% visible all the time. And once you realize that, then you can really practice to become an exemplary.