Leadership is not about power. Leadership is about safety. Good leaders are not interested in dominating their followers. Rather their objective is to empower them to become leaders themselves. They do this by creating safe spaces so that the people who depend on them for safety can push the boundaries and seek excellence as they strive to unfold their full potential.
Leadership is voluntary. Everyone has the potential to be a leader in their own sphere of influence. You don’t have to be in a position of authority to be a leader. And your status or title, does not automatically make you a leader. Leadership is earned. The status of leader is bestowed on us by our followers.
Leadership is hard work. You don’t get to do less work when you are a leader. You have to do more work. Leadership comes with the responsibility to look out for those who have placed their trust in you. Leaders give cover. They protect and defend our values and are the first to rush in when those values are threatened or compromised.
Leaders are the ones who run headfirst into the unknown. They rush toward the danger. They put their own interests aside to protect us or to pull us into the future. Leaders would sooner sacrifice what is theirs to save what is ours.
There is such a thing as “Modern Mythology.” And like the mythology of old, it can inspire and offer a moral compass as we navigate the challenges of our decisions. This excerpt from a fictitious leadership race might be timely.
But there are also real leaders among us and on July 8th, 2021 one of those leaders spoke the truth.
“This crisis is not really about the individual people in politics, many of whom are well-intentioned and do good work. Rather, it is in the way we practice democracy in Canada and how we need to reconsider it moving forward. The privileges we give political parties. The out-of-date norms of our first-past-the-post electoral system. The lack of inclusiveness. The power of the prime minister and the centralization of power in the hands of those who are unelected. The erosion of governing principles and conventions to the point where there are limited or no consequences for wrongful acts undertaken for political benefit. The lack of courage to speak the truth—and the failure of bystanders to support those who do.”
Thank you Jody Wilson-Raibould for you letter to constituents on July 8, 2021