Leadership Begins in Awareness

We act as if leadership were a magical secret power.

We do not understand how or why we became leaders. It is a challenge for us to explain just what leadership is.

Many of us believe we became leaders because someone else decided we were. We were chosen for a particular position, or for a training opportunity. We went to school, where we learned about things like planning and human resources.

It is almost as if leadership were something that happens to us while we are not looking.

For a long time, I thought I was a leader because I had gone to school for a long time. Other people put me into leadership positions, gave me leadership responsibilities. I thought I was a leader because I enjoyed working with people to get things done.

I had been told all my life that I had a choice between being a leader and being a follower. I knew which was the right answer. Leaders help people solve problems; of course, that means that followers are the ones with problems. I knew it was better to have solutions, not problems.

As I gained experience, I began to realize I did not have all the answers. It seemed that I was mistaken. Leadership was not what I had been told it was.

I did a lot of work, making serious changes in how I saw things, including myself. I got to know who I really am in a deeper, more intimate way.

I recognized that leadership does not come from other people. Leadership comes from who we are.

We appreciate our true selves, our own core values. Leadership comes from within us, no matter what anyone else tells us.

Are you aware of your own leadership?

Does your leadership grow out of who you are?

[Image by Nick.Fisher]