It’s been niggling me for a while now. Every time I read up on leadership, I encounter a funny pit in my stomach that tells me that something isn’t right. There are too much written about leadership. It now has more styles than Prada. Coercive leadership. Bureaucratic leadership. Task-oriented, authoritarian, charismatic, servant, transformational, adaptive, feminine, balanced—it seems that everyone is wanting to accelerate digital transformation, advance automation, integrate emerging technologies, be data-driven, and all the while lead with purpose and make a difference. I realize that with all these inspiring ideas and wonderful words, it’s hard to separate our dreams of what we hope to be from the reality of who we really are.
It’s not surprising, really. We live in a pushy, rah-rah gung ho attitude that everyone feels they need to adopt to get ahead in our hustle culture. It’s exhausting trying to be heard in all the noise. To find an innovative edge in an AI induced copycat culture. To be seen in a world that already feels like it’s going too fast. In an already overcrowded marketplace, everyone is feeling the need to become a leader.
But the truth is, you can read about all the great leaders. Study their styles. Try to implement what they did. But to actually become a leader, you need to let go of what you have studied. Drop deeper than your intellect. And go beyond your mind.
Only then can you get out of your own way and start to connect to an intangible force that runs beneath our feet. There are words for it—source, quantum field, creative intelligence, consciousness—whatever you call it, know that it connects us all. And no matter how well you understand the data, know that you are only a miniscule gnat compared to this force.
In other words, don’t try to lead with your ego. And follow that force.
That is how to make the world a better place, one person at a time.