Thinking About Leadership
It's all about releasing the potential within yourself, those you lead, and whatever you are building together.
“Life is about discovering who we are; leading is about striving to become better than we are, and helping everything and everyone around us to become better too.”
Have you ever tried to recall when you were first exposed to an idea or concept?
As you read those words, there’s a good chance you thought of something specific. Something you’re beyond interested in — you’re passionate about it and think about it daily.
For me, the something is leadership — How we lead ourselves, how we lead others, and how we lead entities (aka businesses, non-profits, agencies, teams, etc.) has long intrigued me. Why some choose to accept the responsibility for making tomorrow different and others have no interest in doing so is something I’ve long pondered. along with why some create massive impact and others struggle.
As I prepare to dive into creating a workbook for a new leadership program today, my mind awoke to the opening question, so I went searching for just the right opening quote to share about leadership. The one I chose resonated with me and captured what I believe (as did many of the 100 leadership quotes in the Inc. article where I found it).
So I decided today was the day.
The day when my writing here starts focusing on leadership with the singular objective of encouraging my readers to aspire to create the impact they are here to create by stepping up to lead.

From DepositPhotos.com
A lofty goal, perhaps.
But if you’ve stumbled across and read these posts, there’s a good chance you seek to become better every day. You likely are driven to change the things you know can be made better and have had some experience doing just that.
And you know you’re not done yet.
So let’s think a bit about leadership today, tomorrow, and the next…until we become the leaders we were born to be and deliver the impact we are here to deliver.
You up for it?
Though I don’t recall when I first heard the term leader, I vividly recall the first time I was tasked with leading. It was when I was elected as ‘club reporter’ for the 4-H Club that met next door to my house. The kids in the club ranged from 9 to 18 and my job was to document the stuff we did — community service projects, competing in various contests, attending county and state events, and so forth.
As an adolescent struggling to fit in, the role pushed me to do more than I knew I could, driven by the 4-H program’s motto: “To make the best better.” And the structure of the club revealed a lot to me about how leadership works.
You see, there were the usual titles and positions for the officers of the club. But the way leadership was lived was different. It was inclusive, encouraging, nurturing, and intentional. A big contrast to the way I’d seen the concept before through the world of command and control in my dad’s world as a state policeman.
It felt like everything was upside down (in a good way) in 4-H. Leaders didn’t dictate, they asked others what they thought, listened, and incorporated their input. They regularly praised progress instead of pointing out imperfections. They stepped aside to encourage others to step up and do more, enabling everyone to grow together and achieve more.
The rest of the story is too long to share here, but the simple truth is 4-H shaped my view of leadership and opened the door for my going all-in on becoming the best leader I could be. It convinced me the real work of the leader is about one thing:
“The job of the leader is to equip those you are leading so when you’re gone they can take the entity to a new level you never envisioned as possible.”
—Michael Hudson (I think that’s actually an original quote. Google seems to support it.)
The only path I’ve seen consistently work in creating that result is putting people first when you lead. To do exactly what Lolly Daskal calls us to do (paraphrased from the opening quote) — discover who we are, strive to become better, and help everything and everyone around us become better too.
I am 100% committed to doing just that.
Will you join me?
C’mon, let’s do this. Let’s make a dent in our respective corners of the universe.
Today’s Action advice
There’s a good chance you’ve read this far for a reason. This message connects with you and makes you want to take action. So I invite you to do just that: To commit to taking the first step in the next 24 hours. Make it a small action, but one you know will start you on the path to becoming better at leading yourself. That’s the path to creating significant impact, and that's why we are here.
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P.S. If you’re finding value in these posts, please take a moment to share them with someone you know who needs to be inspired to think differently and become the person they are capable of becoming. You might be able to help them take the most critical step — the first one.