Leadership - a responsible choice

That's right. Leaders are not born, they are made. 

How long will we continue to cling to the outdated ideas that suggest leadership is an inherent trait or that we should leave the messy parts of ourselves behind when we step into our professional lives? 

The traditional notion of segregating our personal and professional selves is not just limiting; it stifles growth and performance. As Jerry Colonna points out, this separation "cuts us off from the source of our creativity." It not only hinders the ability of organisations to foster an environment that are innovative, creative, and where people dare to question, challenge and be curious in awe and desire to know and learn more - this also fuels collaboration, true human connection and a sense of belonging. 

When we compartmentalise who we are into buckets of red and blue, the quality of our workplace suffers—not just in terms of individual growth and fulfillment, but also in terms of collective growth. Leadership is something that manifests throughout the organisational culture - culture that’s fluid and emergent. It simply cannot be looked as a linear problem because it’s centres around the whole mosaic that build an organisation - humans.

Leadership, then, is not a matter of birthright but of deep introspection and growth. The journey of continuous and consistent often exhaustive self-inquiry of asking fundamental questions such as: Who am I on a deeper level, What do I value most, What do I truly desire? - these questions guide us to see beyond the lenses of life we look at on everyday basis. Doing the hard work from questions such as these are essential to practising good leadership.

When you have a leader, someone who has positional power, who is walking around with a bruised, battered and wounded soul and not actually pausing to recognise or regulate that phenomenon and then this leader get to set employee policy, work ethics, we end up walking down the path to recreate a system of unhealthy pattern of toxicity that shapes an organisation and its people. 

We can’t give someone something if we haven’t received. We can’t lead someone unless we know how to lead ourselves - unless we learn to lead ourselves. Like, everything that had brought us to this very point of our lives has shaped us to becoming a leader. The ways each and every one of us survived our childhoods is flowing into leadership and is flowing into how our organisations are structured and our shared life inside organisations.

Choosing to lead ourselves or others guide us to make an intentional choice that presents an opportunity - an opportunity that creates a space - a choice to become who we aspire to be and work hard towards it. We can't anymore get away by calling it fate because we acknowledge and realise the power of choice.

We say don’t bring your personal to your work. Keep your work life separate than your personal life. The irony is - We are always bringing our whole selves. The simplicity of being human is inextricably interconnected to the complexity of being human.

P.S.> If you’re in Jersey, Channel Islands we are doing a breakfast launch event on LeaderQ+ (a tool that doesn’t put you into buckets but designed around a simple fact that we all have the capability to develop our leadership qualities. We are not the sum of our personalities styles - we are the richness of our experiences, beliefs and values.) We would love to have you there!!! 

The event is on 10th Sept,2024 @Digital Jersey Hub. Find all details here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/costeer-launch-in-jersey-registration-909789704497?aff=oddtdtcreator