A Post a Day in May #7: Leadership by the letter
I have pledged to write a new post for this blog every day in May.
The concept of leadership is much on my mind, as there is such a dearth of it in our world today. Yes, individuals are in positions of leadership, but that does not make those individuals leaders. For it is their actions, not their position, that make them so. I agree with Tuli Kupferberg that "when patterns are broken, new worlds emerge".
L E A D E R S H I P: E is for EVOLVE and A is for ADAPT
At its essence, leadership is about change, so in today's Leadership by the Letter, I'm making E for Evolve and A for Adapt.
I put the words “leader” and “change” into Google, and I got more than 790 million hits in less than a minute. A quick glance over the top results showed that many of them are about an individual leading change in an organization, or persuading their team to embrace change, or best practices for change leaders. The implication is that in relation to change, it is leaders who do it unto others.
But I think that change applies as much to the leader herself as it does to anything or anyone in her orbit. I believe that a person becomes a leader over time, in direct proportion to their own understanding of themselves in relation and service to others.
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| Photo by Reid Zura on Unsplash |
E is for evolve: To evolve is to grow and change; it is to grow into change. From the tiny glimmer of a thought — “Could I be that?” — can grow the full embodiment of that very possibility. But one must be willing to watch and to listen and to experiment — with how we listen and speak and respond to others. We must be brave and take risks — with how we present ourselves and with what we ask of others and of ourselves. The more we do that, the more confident we are to do more of that.
I don’t believe that leaders are born; I believe that leaders evolve with intention and over time. And to evolve, we must adapt.
A is for adapt: Inherently, evolution brings change. To survive that change or to thrive in it, we must adapt. Yes, to external realities, but (and maybe more importantly) we must adapt within ourselves. That is, we must modify, adjust and alter ourself — as a person, in our personal life and in our work life. To do this, we must live with awareness of our impact on others and we must take the time to reflect on that impact. If it’s “all good”, then — great: You’ve arrived. But if it’s not as good as you’d like, then — adapt. Stay true to your core values, but modify, adjust and alter your behaviour and your thinking to better achieve the impact you desire.
Of course, there is sexism, misogyny, homophobia and any number of other systemic barriers out there that keep many women out of formal leadership roles. However, unless we evolve and adapt our own sense of self in order to be the leader we want to be — and understand ourselves as being, no metaphorical doors of (or to) leadership will ever call us to fling them open and walk boldly in.
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I was tempted to go ahead and attached meanings to the rest of the letters in leadership. I got as far al D but stopped, being torn between direct and delegate.
ReplyDeleteI used to tell myself, during my long stint as a manager, thankless job for the most part, that if I were well like, I wasn't doing a very good job -- so there went the L in leadership.
And now I come to my governor, Andrew Cuomo. He has taken the bull by the horns and is demonstrating the finest leadership, perhaps since Churchill. He has the reputation of being tough to work with, and tough he is, very. He also takes responsibility, is quick to say he doesn't know when he doesn't know, and defers to the experts he surrounds himself with for those unanswerable question. If they have an answer.
We have been bereft in this country for the lack of leadership in the administration for nearly four years. Much of the damage done can never be repaired, not in my lifetime.
Oh hell, I got back on that soap box again
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Your soap box is always worth a listen, Ann, so please keep reading and keep commenting!
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