The Leader’s Path
Leadership is an initiation into authenticity.
The leader’s role is to galvanize others towards a common cause. This means differing behaviors at different times and is a mix of goal alignment, strategic communications, coaching, and motivation. Usually layered on top of the basics of management, leadership is both a stance and a set of behaviors that are human-centric. Management is a set of organizational and business skills. Leadership is a set of human skills and is rooted in the theory of social psychology: what motivates humans and how influence occurs, especially across large groups. The journey from individual contributor (especially if technical) is quite challenging in that it fundamentally confronts a person’s training, skills, and where they get their value in their work. If they were an engineer and found value from building software or a physician from delivering patient care, they find themselves in the realm of endless meetings and ambiguous feedback loops. Their brain no longer gets the same dopamine hit they received as they completed a task. And yet, some part of their training and temperament has given them the seed of leadership.
Many times a leader is called forth from others, who say “I see something in you, come with me” and receive mentoring or trial by fire. They walk through adverse circumstances and cope with new variables to manage such as interpersonal communications, emotions, and the dynamics of relationships. They agonize that others don’t have a sense of urgency or engagement and are puzzled at how to unlock them. This invariably leads them to try to understand others, and as they do this most find the first stop is themselves. They uncover truths about their operating system be it personality, narratives they carry, or shadows they repress. They discover, usually through feedback from others that that are perceived the way they intend, there is a gap between their intent and its impact. These gaps can be painful and they realize that the most important person to change is first themselves. Many times this leads to an even deeper inquiry asking, “Do I even want to lead?” Many don’t, seeking the safe harbor of what they were trained to do. Those that remain and thrive understand that leadership is many times not a joyful experience, and actually a form of emotional labor.
Many discover an intense sense of loneliness and instead of the appreciation and recognition they thought they would receive, they find leadership is service. And in this service, is joy. The servant-leader is the Evolutionary leader in that it requires a humble, open mind and an orientation to add value to the stakeholders in which they serve. Many find a deeper sense of meaning realize they can and do transform the lives of others via their coaching and they dig deep to find a purpose that can inspire thousands to engage with their whole heart. The dopamine hit becomes a slower, more drawn out, more subtle form of reward as they see results spiral from their stewardship and through this process. And through it all, they transform, grow up, and grow out in the world. The experience is not unlike becoming a parent in that it forces one outside of oneself and towards others. The ladder goes up and up usually ending up in some place of mentorship, giving the wisdom they have received from their journey. The Evolutionary leader understands the layering of evolution that occurs over a lifetime and transcends and includes previous operating systems to grow up into a more mature, complex human. As they do this, they meet parts of themselves that lie in exile and hidden dreams and fears come out to be reconciled and integrated. As they grow up, they become stewards of life on the planet and participate in its evolution.
