Take Me to Your Leader

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” — John Quincy Adams

In times of crisis, we look to our leaders. For comfort and strength, for guidance and direction, for hope and encouragement.

For reassurance that we are not alone.

For reassurance that there’s a well-thought-out plan designed by our best and brightest with a role to play for each and every one of us.

For reassurance that we will all be okay — possibly even better than before — if we work together, uniting in shared purpose toward a common goal.

Basically, for leadership.

For many of us, especially those of us living in the Divided States of America, disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe what we are experiencing in the face of the vapid, vacuous, vainglorious, vituperative, vicious, villainous vacuum where past leaders of the free world once stood and which has turned the Oval Office into a gaping void of darkness.

A collective surreality show that was horrifying and heart-breaking enough when not facing a global pandemic of epic proportions.

As distressing, depressing, and deeply disturbing as it is, this leadership void is an opportunity, a gift in disguise. A chance to recognize that the leader and leadership we seek is actually right here with us.

Because we are all leaders. Leaders of our own lives. Each and every one of us playing myriad leadership roles every day.

In ourselves.

In our families.

In our communities.

In the companies we work for.

In the world.

We are leading from every seat on every screen. Because contrary to our cultural programming and societal norms, leadership by definition is neither singular nor hierarchical. It is not a quality imbued by a title, an office, or a gender.

Leadership is a state of being that each and every one of us can choose to embody —every single day. A superpower we all innately possess and can choose to develop and learn to wield wisely.

An ethical, moral, and honorable code of conduct we can choose to live by.

A courageous mission that, should we choose to accept it, will raise all boats, elevating ourselves, one another, and our entire world.

A way of showing up that defines our character and affects the quality of our relationships and every aspect of our life experience.

So, the question is: how will you lead? Will you choose to lead with your heart and with hope?

With benevolence and a sense of duty and personal responsibility?

With integrity and respect — for yourself, for others, and for nature?

With a recognition of our collective oneness, our interdependence, our shared fate?

The universe is sounding an alarm — a global wake up call. She is tapping each and every one of us and inviting us to consider how we’re going to show up. To decide how we’re going to lead.

What meaning will we give to this moment? What story will we bring to life through our individual and collective actions? How will we choose to write human history forward?

We have the opportunity to tell a story of resilience and resourcefulness, compassion and kindness and write it into the historical record on a global scale, pushing the greed, narcissism, and polarization back into the dark hole from which it came.

We have an opportunity to lead with humanity.

Who’s with me?

If you’d like help connecting with the leader within, please book a curious conversation to explore how the Vulnerability Doula can be of service on your journey of becoming.