Redefining Leadership
Leadership, based on the dictionary definition, means:
- The action of leading a group of people or an organization.
- The state or position of being a leader.
Some of the synonyms include: directorship, guidance, control, rule, command, power, domination etc…
These have been the building blocks of how we engage with each other within various forms of organized structures from the time we enter our families, to sports teams, schools, and all manner of organizations. If there are people gathered there seems to be a need for leadership. No good bad/right or wrong, just a fact of our current system.
A new perspective…
LeaderSELF: my definition
- to lead from an internally driven referenced space
- to be an invitation for others to discover the leader that lives within them.
LeaderSELF is an internally directed way of leading.
Captain of your own ship…
People have often heard me say “I think of leadership in terms of being on a ship…there is always only one captain.” It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about friendship, partnership, or leadership. Think about it…with any of those terms is there ever a time when the whole is equal? Where everyone stands on the same line? I’m not saying don’t use the words. I’m saying I think we need to re-evaluate how we feel about them.
Words create our reality, and the vibrations words hold inside of us determine the reality we experience. LEADERSHIP comes with so many tethers depending on what our beliefs, values and attitudes about the words that end in ‘ship’ mean. There’s a leadership team…really isn’t there always someone at the helm? Do all voices really carry the same weight? How many boardroom tables are round?
I want to invite you to consider, what does it mean to be the captain of your own ship? What if you took care of yourself first and then others? This goes against the grain of mostly everything we’ve been taught. And, think about it, when we’re on a plane and they’re giving instructions, they say “put the mask on yourself first before helping another.” In order to serve another we must make sure we are healthy. As a society, are we ready to unburden ourselves from having to carry all the weight?
New questions to ask…
Before considering leading others consider the questions:
- How do I lead myself?
- What are the beliefs, values and attitudes I have toward being a leader?
- Who do I have the potential to become if I choose to explore leading from a different perspective?
- What if, as a leader, you became the beacon for others to awaken the leader that lives within them?
This might seem counter intuitive from everything the current language around leadership entails. We become supervisors, managers, directors etc…all terminology that leaves no room for being self led. Because we are all unique, there is room for us to redefine what leader means for each of us. It’s time to discover the leader that lives within emerge…to become LeaderSELF
Until the next time,
Lisa